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Welcome to Fallout Nukaloha, a fallout inspired quest set 250-ish years after the Great War in a post-post-apocalyptic Hawaii.

Surf-Rock, radioactive pirates, ghoulish hula dancers, mutated sharks, and all kinds of freaky shit wait for you here!

>Summary:
You are Diego Buenaventura, a journalist from San Francisco that was shanghaied by Raiders and taken all the way to Hawaii to be sold into slavery. Too many things have happened since your arrival more than a year ago. All what matters now is that this wasteland is broken, a hellish place on the verge of absolute war, it was bathed in fire once, and it will soon be bathed in blood. You have lived in the NCR, you know that peace and democracy can be brought to the wastes, there's still hope for this once paradisaical archipelago. You have recently learned that your encounters with Daphne, a woman that you romanced shortly after your arrival, resulted in her getting pregnant and giving birth to two babies, Pukalani and Kailani Your children, along with many other kids, were then kidnapped by the High Evolutionary, a small secretive faction of Super-Mutants that rule the big island of Hawai'i and are considered gods among the tribals and raiders that inhabit it.

You are now exploring the island searching for the mysterious "Fortress" where the High Evolutionary rule from. Thankfully you aren't alone, you are accompanied by JC, a Securitron militaristic robot that like you was brought here from mainland, Juniper, an androgynous and odd yet charming airplane pilot, and Maggot, a mutated raider that joined you and has been acting like a douchebag since his arrival.

> Character sheet:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/17h2Zm77a7A6MuvcRf4QdBZ-agS7B90SsgInJJ-O9COA/edit

> Pre-War thread:
>>4703844

> Rainbow Jack's Radio Shack:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6zVWk3kTmc7cH8hF6COM9z

And now, let's begin:
>>
> Help Saint program the robots so they can defend themselves. Build more so they can truly have a chance in this dangerous island.
> Once you are done take a dead robot's head so the tribals leave you alone.

Sun rays filter across the blinders and hit you and your companions in the face, slowly waking you all up. You had a good night of sleep, it was dreamless, but it was restoring. Saint, the artificial intelligence that controls the settlement of Tomorrowland where you have settled slowly opens the windows and in the kitchen a few rooms over activates a couple coffee brewers to make you all breakfast, he even goes as far as putting on some nice and relaxing music, unfortunately the mechanisms he has to work with are far from functioning, one of the two coffee brewers that he turns on ends violently exploding and covering everything with scalding hot coffee and bubbling cream, several of the windows never end opening up, and the few the ones don't do it all the way, and the music? Well, you are sure that it originally sounded pretty well, but playing it on centuries old cracking speakers that make it sound like otherworldly screeches isn't the most relaxing of sensations. You still appreciate the gesture, its clear that Saint aims to please, he was designed to be the perfect intelligent home after all.

You all wake up, eat breakfast (including the coffee that Saint had prepared, which turns out to be surprisingly good), and take turns to shower and relieve yourself on the only functioning bathroom of the building. Once everybody is sated and clean the hard work begins. Together you are guided by Saint and descend to the basement where the creators of Tomorrowland stored and worked with the robotic workers that once inhabited these streets. Those robots were designed to be the ideal workers, they had countless of safety protocols installed on them and most even had their internal weaponry disabled. JC, being a robot itself and the most skilled in hacking and programming gets into the internal mainframes and starts changing code and rewriting entire libraries to turn those same pacifist robots into tribal killing machines. In the meanwhile the rest of you do all of the grunt work, and head out into the city in the search of scrap metal, resources and broken bots to repair and upgrade them.
>>
>>4751745

Thanks to your power-armor and your already impressive strength you have no trouble to do this kind of grunt work, you even end moving the heaviest scrap like wrecked cars or entire piles of dead bots. Juniper isn't the most athletic person and you can see that she struggles to pull some of the heaviest components, but he nonetheless works hard and does her best. Maggot on the other hand seems to be happy with the scrounging and recycling, perhaps due to his raider nature he's already used to live and survive with whatever scraps are at hand. but the final result is way better than any of you had expected. It takes an entire day of hard and excruciating work but at the end, it is all worth it.

JC repairs as many robots as he can, activates their internal weapons and uses the scrap metal to craft spiked armor and blades that will cover their bodies and limbs. And then, with a push of a button every one of the robots gets online, a dozen Protectrons and Mr.Handies turn on at once, warm blue lights glowing from their insides and their circuitry and joints spewing sparks as they begin to move and head out to patrol the streets.

"I... I can't believe it!" Saint speaks from one of the speakers as he witnesses the same robots that he had seen die years ago come back to life, and this time as warriors instead of mere sacrifices.

"You won't be alone again Saint." You reply. "And they won't be hunted down without a fight, I can assure you that."

"How... how can I repay you? I don't think I can!"

"Just let us rest here one more night, let us take some of the food and water on your reserves and also use some broken robot pieces that we couldn't repair so the tribals don't attack us and that'll be enough. We didn't do this for the reward you know? Sometimes people just have to help each other." You say, looking at the CCTV camera that Saint is using to look at you all.
>>
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>>4751747

"I... fuck. We got a problem."

"What's wrong?" Asks JC.

Suddenly from the exterior you hear a blood curling screech, followed by several others and the sound of banging metal.

"Dozens of tribals are gathering around town, some are already attacking the gates, my cameras don't reach very far so I couldn't see them approaching. They, they seem really mad."

"Any idea why?" Juniper says as she cocks his shotgun.

"They probably think you all have been meddling and summoning evil spirits or something like that. I mean, they believe that robots are evil spirits and that's why they kill them, but you all instead have entered here and repaired them. They might even think that you Diego are a demon because of your Power-Armor. Fuck! You... look you all have done more than enough to help me."

Suddenly with an hydraulic hiss a hatchet in the floor several rooms away opens up.

"This path leads to the sewers, I sealed it because radroaches and rats constantly entered into the settlement and harassed the robots and chewed on the wiring. Take it and it will lead outside of town, into a safe area. I'll deal with the tribals, I've been waiting for this moment for a long time..."

> Agree and escape across the sewers. Continue searching the Fortress.
> Agree and escape across the sewers. Return to the beach where your seaplane is, fly it to Tomorrowland and use the seaplane's mounted guns to help Saint in the fight. Then land it on the main street.
> Decline and stay here, fight with him and defeat the tribals.
> Other options, write in.
>>
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>>4751743
Welcome back!

>>4751753
> Decline and stay here, fight with him and defeat the tribals.
> Tell Juniper to take cover somewhere, since they're the weakest of us.

Escape is all fine and dandy, but what if Saint fails or some of them escape regardless of outcome and continue following us, but now filled with hate and seeking revenge?
And also fuck em for being retards and stalking us in the first place.
>>
Fuck it, I have to make up for lost time. So I'll only wait for an hour or so before writing a reply. >>4751789 wins, writing now.
>>
heck
>>
>>4751753
> Decline and stay here, fight with him and defeat the tribals.
> Tell Juniper to take cover somewhere, since they're the weakest of us.

"Thanks, but no thanks." You say, as you unholster your Laser Pistol and load a fresh Fusion Cell. "We will stay and fight, these crazed tribals are all allied with the High Evolutionary and will try to hunt us down relentlessly. On this dammed island the only good tribal is a good tribal."

"Yes! Fucking rage!" Maggot exclaims as he grabs some Psycho and injects itself with it straight on the neck, doing it so wildly that he even sprays some blood across the walls.

"Let's blast these fools." JC adds cocking his gun arms and energetically revving his engine and burning some rubber.

Juniper too gets ready to get out and fight but before he can speak you stop her.

"Wait, Jun, stay here and defend Saint's mainframe. I'm sorry you'll miss the fight, but you are our only wait out, without you are are trapped on this island, and if we end trapped we are as good as dead. Besides, if they somehow damage Saint's mainframe the robots might go haywire and end attacking everyone on sight, making an even fight into a bloody genocide."

"Y-yes." Juniper nods as he walks towards the great supercomputer that hosts Saint's being and readies her guns.

The rest of you get out and head into a chaotic battlefield, dead robots and tribal corpses scatter the streets everywhere. Modified Protectrons and Mr. Handies cross the streets spewing plasma balls, laser bolts and wild flames. The robots are clearly superior, they have reinforced steel bodies and energy weapons, whereas the tribals only have leather pelts and primitive weapons and bows. But what the bots have in power they lack in numbers, there are only a few dozen robots, and at least a couple hundred tribals. It seems like joining the robots instead of attacking them struck a nerve, in their eyes you did something incredibly taboo and forbidden, and you all will have to pay.
>>
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>>4751878

Luckily for you the walls that surround the small settlement are still holding up and are the reason as of why only a few tribals have managed to cross so far.

Up ahead the main entrance gate continues half open, its mechanisms are too damaged to fully close or open and have created a bottleneck that has forced the tribals to slowly enter instead of pouring all in. Slowly the old and rusty gate starts to bend inwards, the swarm of angered tribals are twisting the metal and breaking the doors, and when that happens nothing will stop them.

> There's a water tower not very far away from your location, the steel beams that hold it are rusty and some have even started to bend from old age and the water's weight. Use your Thermal Cleavers and the Grappling-Hook to damage the tower and push it into the swarm of tribals that are trying to enter.
> You are strong enough to lift car wrecks above your arms. Throw cars at the incoming enemies and have Maggot and JC be ready to open fire at them and cause their internal nuclear engines to meltdown and violently explode.
> Order the robots to swarm the entrance and create a wall of laser and plasma fire to stop the incoming enemies. Stand with them. Superior firepower will beat their superior numbers.
> Order Saint to seal all the different houses and start filling them with propane. Then order him to hide all the robots and hide with your companions as well. When the tribals come entering into the houses looking for you all have Saint turn on the kitchen's ovens so they all explode and take as many tribals as possible.
> Other options, write in.
>>
>>4751887
> There's a water tower not very far away from your location, the steel beams that hold it are rusty and some have even started to bend from old age and the water's weight. Use your Thermal Cleavers and the Grappling-Hook to damage the tower and push it into the swarm of tribals that are trying to enter.

If there's chance for it, can we try to horizontally weld the beams onto the gate to reinforce it and block the entrance a bit?
Seems doable if we can lift cars and have the 1000° claws.
>>
>>4751887
> There's a water tower not very far away from your location, the steel beams that hold it are rusty and some have even started to bend from old age and the water's weight. Use your Thermal Cleavers and the Grappling-Hook to damage the tower and push it into the swarm of tribals that are trying to enter.
>>
>>4751933
>If there's chance for it, can we try to horizontally weld the beams onto the gate to reinforce it and block the entrance a bit? Seems doable if we can lift cars and have the 1000° claws.
If we crash the water tower onto the entrance the remaining debris will also block the gate yes. We could later use cars and broken robots to further pile up the strap and better block the gate. On top of that if we cause the cars and bots to explode we will not only kill any of the tribals that might be climbing at that moment but we would also cause the metal to melt and weld together while also making it radioactive.

Our claws are not powerful enough to weld metal, but our Thermal cleavers are. What we could do with our Tesla claws is once the tower has fallen down and everyone on the gate is wet and stepping on water we could use its tesla powers to electrocute several people at once.
>>
>>4751975
Oh yeah, I meant Cleavers.
But if you say the debris will block the gate, then let's not bother. Better a steady stream of idiots than them trying to find a new entrance and pouring in.

Do tell the bots to move out of the way, don't wanna fry them accidentally.
>>
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>>4751887
> There's a water tower not very far away from your location, the steel beams that hold it are rusty and some have even started to bend from old age and the water's weight. Use your Thermal Cleavers and the Grappling-Hook to damage the tower and push it into the swarm of tribals that are trying to enter.

The robots spread around you and flock to the walls to stop the climbing tribals. These wild savages were forged in the fires that this hellish wasteland created, they were shaped by this deadly jungle, only the strong ones survive, the rest are quickly killed or devoured. Their bodies are muscular and chiselled, their muscles bulging and full of rage pumping veins. Somehow they are strong enough to pierce cut the metallic robots with their misshapen crude blades and crazy enough to shrug off the violent energy blasts that they receive. They don't care about dying and their faces reflect it, their eyes are bloodshot, their mouths foaming, their tongues twisted and curled to scream and launch an endless stream of profanities in weird misshapen dialects that barely sound like english.

It looks like several tribes have joined together, they all have different tribal paints and hair styles, some wear colorful robes, others skins, a few are completely naked. These people only understand one language, and that is might and strength, and the High Evolutionary have plenty of that, no wonder why they became the rulers of this island so easily. Whereas most of the times they battle between each other they gladly join together when they have a common enemy, the High Evolutionary have been using these same tribals to battle Ohana, and while the nation state has better trained and equipped warriors their sheer brutality and resilience make it up for it. Until now you couldn't truly understand why Ohana, being backed by the Enclave no less, had so much trouble to conquer this island, but now that you have set foot here you are finally understanding it.
>>
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>>4752133

Desperate times require desperate measures. Using your Grappling Hook you quickly move towards the Water Tower near the entrance and start melting the corroded and rusty support beams. Saint is apparently surveying the battle using the different cameras installed around town, at some point he understands your intentions and sends two robots to assist you, one is too damaged to fight and simply walks to one of the beams and self destructs to melt and obliterate the steel pillar, the other uses a plasma flamer to quickly melt the metal.

Once the three of the four pillars are damaged enough the tower starts to loudly shake and vibrate, its metallic structure crunches and starts violently bending down. The tribals don't notice it at first they are too focused on trying to squeeze inside the gate, by the time they finally understand that they are going to be crushed it's simply too late. They try to run, but they are too many. More than eight million of pounds of nasty water come crashing down onto them. The deposit was far from sealed, in fact it seems that the tribals that killed the old inhabitants of the settlement stored the corpses in the water. Blood and infected water floods the streets carrying with itself dozens of bodies, both new and old.

"Stay out of the water!" You scream as you overcharge your Tesla Gauntlets and see your arms get surrounded by outbursts of energy and a powerful corona of electric voltaic arcs. JC, Maggot and the rest of the robots do their best to jump into somewhere high enough to not be touching the water.

Before the survivors of the impact can recover you punch the waters and unload millions of volts of electricity. The energy discharge is so violent that several of the people and corpses around start catching on fire. Tribals die by the hundreds, the screams echo across the mountains and the valleys. Mutant parrots become startled by the yelling and start to fly everywhere loudly repeating the screeches that they have heard, letting everyone far and wide now what kind of massacre is happening here. If the High Evo didn't knew that you were around, now they will. If the parrots aren't sign enough then the tribals will be. You can see several fleeing in terror, they quickly enter the jungle and get forever lost. Surely one or more of them will somehow relay the message to their overlords. Let them know that you are coming. You have enough rage for every one of them.
>>
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>>4752137

Your HUD gets full of warning messages, your electric gauntlets didn't only drain energy from their Fusion Cells but also from your own Power-Armor.

"RRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHH!!" You then scream as you grab one of the least wrecked cars lying around and throw it at the wreck that the water tower caused. With a grunt you lift the car and throw it onto the debris filled gate, the car instantly explodes with a nuclear mushroom the moment it impacts.

Since when are you so strong, since when are you so violent? Have you always been like this, or has Hawaii made you into this monster?

Shortly after dropping the car a message that you had never seen before flashes in front of your screen. [POWER ARMOR OVERHEATING, ENTERING ENERGY SAVING MODE]

This Power Armor that you found is a prototype, one that somehow has an internal power-plant that allows it to function without the need Fusion Cores, but it seems that it has several limitations as well. This "ENERGY SAVING MODE" is nothing but a total shutdown of the servomotors that let you move the armor as if it were almost weightless, without them every movement its as if you were pushing a car uphill. Suddenly, a new message flashes.

[TIME UNTIL STANDARD ENERGY LEVELS: 5 MINUTES]

There's no way you can fight like this, and you can't stand five whole minutes standing still, the tribals will reach you and use their blades to pry your armor open like a can of sardines.

> Stay still and power through it, raise your Pistol and try your best to aim. Moving the armor might make the countdown last more time thought.
> Ask Saint to surround you with robots that will protect you while you wait for this "Energy Saving Mode" to finish.
> Use the grappling hook to lift the armor to an elevated and safe position and get out of it, then continue fighting.
> Other options, write in.
>>
>>4752146
> Stay still and power through it, raise your Pistol and try your best to aim. Moving the armor might make the countdown last more time thought.

Let the fuckers come, we are not a regular human and our Power Armor is coated in Glow Sap. Sounds doable.
>>
> Stay still and power through it, raise your Pistol and try your best to aim. Moving the armor might make the countdown last more time thought.
>>
>>4752146
> Stay still and power through it, raise your Pistol and try your best to aim. Moving the armor might make the countdown last more time thought.

The armor starts powering down, to save power the HUD turns almost invisible, your mechanical limbs become heavy and stiff, the circuits and coils stop cracking with electricity, the only thing you can hear are the fans in the back.

From the sides and the wrecked gate more tribals get through, the survivors of the crash and the ones that were in the back are now in the fronlines.

[TIME UNTIL STANDARD ENERGY LEVELS: 4 MINUTES]

With a grunt you raise your arm, what once felt light as a feather now feels like a thousand pounds pulling you down. Everything is hard, hell even shooting feels like a daunting task, moving your fingers is like digging across thick mud and only after only a few pot shots you start to feel a cramp building in your forearm.

Your laser blasts are dexterous, they tackle down and kill several tribal warriors but for each one that you kill two more emerge from the bushes. In the distance you can hear Jun's shotgun, the invaders have breached deep enough to even reach her. Grunting you turn your head from side to side and see JC surrounded by more robots battling countless of tribal raiders, Maggot on the other hand is jumping from roof to roof while chucking molotovs and pipe bombs.
>>
>>4752903

[TIME UNTIL STANDARD ENERGY LEVELS: 3 MINUTES]

The battle is in your favor, the damage that you caused took a huge chunk of the tribals and your superior firepower will make sure that you win tonight, but who knows if you will survive to see the end of the day.

Right now you are in an incredibly vulnerable position, not only you are practically paralysed but you are also pretty sure that the seals in the back of your armor have gotten loose. From a design standpoint this makes sense, perhaps what kept your armor fully sealed were a set of electromagnets, ones that kept everything airtight as long as were was energy. This would allow soldiers to easily leave their armors in case their Fusion Cores run dry, instead of keeping them trapped in what otherwise would be standing sarcophagi. Unfortunately for you, this also means that if they surround you they will easily be able to pull you out and beat the crap out of you.

[TIME UNTIL STANDARD ENERGY LEVELS: 2 MINUTES]

You fire and fire until your barrel turns red hot. And then your biggest fear comes true. *click click click*. Your fusion cell is completely dry.

With a titanic effort you reload and put on a new fusion cell. The act of grabbing the cell from your pocket and moving it all the way into the pistol makes you sweat and feel absolutely cramped. Inside of your armor your arms and fingers tremble from the effort. You have never felt so tired and desperate.

[TIME UNTIL STANDARD ENERGY LEVELS: 1 MINUTE]
>>
>>4752905

The raiders are now all around, several arrows fly past overheard, a few impact and ricochet, a couple even stick. Their grunts and screams echo in every direction. You once more raise your arm and empty the entire Laser Pistol in front of you killing at least a dozen. Then it happens, several of those primitive brutes jump from behind on top of you, the stupid fools end covering themselves with the glow sap and once the effects of the poisonous and radioactive fluid hits them they fall back onto the floor and start convulsing and puking blood. Unfortunately this won't deter them, once they find out that you are untouchable they simply change their tactics and start attacking you with swords and clubs from a distance. It won't be long enough until one of them manages to pry your armor open.

[POWER ARMOR COOLED - RESTORING NORMAL MODE]

Suddenly you hear the buzz of electricity, the fans spinning at full power, the servos reactivating and once more responding and aiding your movements.

"It's showtime!" You scream at full volume as you quickly reload and with one hand shot everyone to your left and with your Thermal cleaver mutilate everyone to your right. More and more come but they simply have no chance against your superior strength and firepower. Everything else happens in a blitz of red and white. You don't stop until you are out of breath, and your mutant physiology makes you take forever to reach that point. By the time you stop there's a mountain of corpses around you, your body is completely coated in crimson blood and gory remains.

You look around and see nothing but fires and enemy corpses everywhere. The few survivors are scattering around. The battle is over, you have won.
>>
>>4752906

Limping slightly you walk back onto the same building where you slept, Maggot, Jun and JC follow you behind. You aren't damaged, only completely exhausted and bruised from forcing your muscles to push and move the armor around. The rest are also covered in soot and blood, with small bruises and cuts, but overall they are all fine. One by one you all slump on the couches and the floor. Maggot instantly fall asleep, Juniper opens a bottle of Nuka-Cola and starts checking her boy for wounds, JC connects to an outlet and his screen goes black, you simply get out of the armor and lie on the cold floor, idly looking at the ceiling.

"We... we won!" Saint's artificial voice suddenly chimes from across the speakers. "How... how can I pay you all?"

"Just..." You say in a whisper, too tired to speak properly. "Just let us rest. We will talk tomorrow." And after saying this, you instantly fall asleep.

Another dreamless night, another day where your children are at the mercy of their captors.

Saint once more prepares coffee, and he somehow once more makes a brewer explode, he too tries relentlessly opening the windows and putting on music, and he too fails. But at least the gesture is nice.

"So. You will be leaving today?" The AI asks, kinda disappointed really.

"We have to travel to the Fortress." You reply. "Any idea of where it is? We have a map but it doesn't says where it is, all we know that its north."

"That's what I thought you would say. It's a shame, I will miss having people here. The robots are nice, but they don't compare. But I understand it, besides this town is practically crumbling down and it doesn't has a water tower anymore. Living here would be pretty hard for organics like you. I... I know you said that you don't want a reward, but there's no way that you are going to go into that dangerous jungle empty handed. I have been thinking about how to reward you."

You stretch and yawn and see a robot bringing a cup of steamy coffee, the robot participated in the battle, there are several arrows lodged into his chassis and a thick and grimy layer of blood and human remains coating it all. Hopefully none of that fell on the cups.
>>
>>4752917

"We appreciate it, honestly any help will be welcome. What's on your mind?" You say as you grab the cup and use your fingers to see if there's truly any human remains or blood in there.

"Well, there are still a few satellites orbiting around earth. I don't know where the Fortress is because it's a post-war location, and all of my maps are outdated. Perhaps I could link with one of those satellites and get you the exact coordinates of where you need to go. Hacking into these satellites will be hard, most will be military, some might even be chinese, who knows what kind of nasty viruses they might have for intruders like me. I could do it, but it will be painful. The second reward would be lending you several of my warrior bots, a small army at your disposal. The third reward would be a small sliver of myself, you see during all my years of solitude I tried over and over to build myself a friend, another AI to talk with, but they all lacked, a human component, they were either too robotic and cold or too identical to me. I only became who I am because I learned from another humans, and those Artificial Intelligences that I created had no human input to grow and learn from, they were unfinished. I reabsorbed most of them, but I could create another one that I could give to you Diego, it would be installed on your armor and would help you dispense med-x and stimpaks automatically, would help you if you suffer from more Overheating problems and could even take control of the armor and fight or travel for you. Travelling with you it would learn and become more and more humane. When you are done if you want you could return it here so I can have a friend... but your choice really."

"Mmmh..." You say, thinking which one should you pick. Clearly they all are small sacrifices to him. Reaching the satellites might hurt or even destroy him. Giving you part of his army would leave him almost defenceless and giving you the AI would literally cut a piece of himself and give it to you.

> Choose the location of the Fortress.
> Choose the Robotic bodyguards.
> Choose the AI.
> Other options, write in.
>>
>>4752921
>> Choose the AI.
Oh hey, we are back. That was pretty awesome.
>>
Seconding the AI.

We should have the robots burn all the remains in and around the compound while we take the sewers back to the beach to land our plane in the town. That way we can escape back to a closer location if need be, one that is guarded as well.
>>
>>4752921
>>4752936
>>4753363
+1, grill the bodies and let's get our plane in here.
Can we leave JC until we return so he can teach Saint how to fix bots by himself? It's also kinda in our interest to make him self-sufficient. Ignore if he can do it already, it just never came up.

>>4752906
Diego Buenamatanza lol
I hope AI still manages to fix this place up eventually.
>>
Good morning everyone, I just woke up. Getting the AI wins, writing now.

>>4752936
>Oh hey, we are back. That was pretty awesome.
Yes we are! I missed y'all

>>4753363
>We should have the robots burn all the remains in and around the compound while we take the sewers back to the beach to land our plane in the town. That way we can escape back to a closer location if need be, one that is guarded as well.
Very good idea! I love the way you all ponder and think of the best course of action.

>>4753715
>Can we leave JC until we return so he can teach Saint how to fix bots by himself? It's also kinda in our interest to make him self-sufficient. Ignore if he can do it already, it just never came up.
I guess that several teams can be made. Maggot and the robots will collect the corpses and burn them, Juniper and DIego will return to the plane and fly to Tomorrowland, JC will teach Saint more about programming and becoming self sufficient. Good idea!

>I hope AI still manages to fix this place up eventually.
At the end of the quest there will be a prologue describing what happens afterwards. Depending on what we do in Hawaii Tomorrowland might become a thriving settlement once more or fall into chaos and become an empty and desolate ruin that will eventually become devoured by the jungle.
>>
sexworktron
>>
>>4752921
> Choose the AI

"Give me the Artificial Intelligence, it will be of great aid in our quest, and once we are done if the AI has evolved and evolved into a real personality I promise that I'll return and give it back to you, so you won't be alone ever again." You say, patting the mainframe where Saint is stored. Despite only having spent a couple of days with him you have ended getting fond of his gentile and servant like personality, you truly want him to have some companionship.

From a panel in the side of the great computer several lights blink and suddenly an orange holotape is ejected.

"That's me. Well, a fragment of me at least."

You grab the tape and put it on your Pip-Boy, a strange code is then downloaded and your HUD glitches for a moment.

"Welcome user. What is your designation operator?"

"Uhhh.. Diego." You say meekly.

"Welcome Diego. I am your new RobCo Operations Assistant. You can give me any name or simply call me ROA. I'll ensure your survival."

"Sure. Thanks Roa."

"Who is he talking with? Did he finally go full crazy?" Maggot then asks Juniper. She responds by rolling her eyes and walking away from the raider.

Apparently they cannot hear the Artificial Intelligence speaking to you.

"Boss? Ready to leave whenever you want." Juniper then tells you.

"We still have got some stuff to do. JC, stay with Saint and teach him as much as you can of programming and other useful combat and military skills. I'm sure that the tribals and raiders will attack this town again."

"Understood." The Securitron replies with a nod.

"Maggot, work with the robots and pile up the corpses to be incinerated."

"Fuck yeah!! I'm gonna make a dozen molotovs, I saw some Kerosene and vodka bottles around." The raider yells as he runs away to gather the components.

"Jun, you are going to go with me. We will return to the beach and take the Dreadnought. We will fly it here. That way if anything bad happens we will be able to retreat here instead of going all the way back to the coast."

"Sure boss. Happy to do so." The pilot says with a nod.
>>
>>4754181

Everybody gets on their duties and you two use the hatchet that Saint had opened before to head out into the sewers and safely head out into the jungle. Saint hasn't seen anyone surrounding the settlement but you are pretty sure that the defeated tribals won't surrender so easily and are stationed around waiting to ambush you the moment you leave town. Unlike the sewers of Lana'i these are relatively clean and free of trash and toxic materials, you start walking them in quiet solitude but after a while Juniper starts to speak.

"Do we really need to travel with Maggot? He isn't of any help anymore."

"Well... He wants to see the blood games, if we leave him alone he won't survive. And he has been helpful so far."

"And a total pain in the ass as well."

"Yeah well, that too."

"I... I don't know. Yesterday he tried to spy on me during my shower turn."

"What? Really?"

"Yeah, I saw him drilling a hole that connected with the bathroom in a lame attempt at looking at me naked."

"And what did you do?"

"I.. I let him. Despite his mutations he's kind of cute, and I don't know. I liked the attention."

"Well. I don't know what to say. You like him?"

Juniper sighs and shakes her head

"I don't know. I... I don't love him that for sure, he's a jackass. But to be honest I've started to learn how to tolerate him even more, and I have even started to find his antics kind of funny."

"Then why do you want him to leave?"

"Because I know I'm a fool and I might end falling for him. And raiders like him never last long. Loving him would be getting myself into a painful heartbreak in the short run. If the wasteland doesn't kills him the rads or the mutations will do, or perhaps an overdose or alcohol poisoning, or some strange disease. But you heard him, his motto is "Live Fast, Die Young and Leave a pretty corpse behind.", he knows that his days are numbered."

> Tell Juniper that after returning you will dismiss Maggot. He has already outlived his usefulness.
> Tell Juniper that we need him to travel the island and that dismissing him now would be cruel. Tell her to just ignore him and let it go.
> Tell Juniper that we need him to travel the island and that dismissing him now would be cruel. Tell her that you all will stay on Tomorrowland one more day. That he can take him on a date and go as far as she wants with him. That way if Maggot leaves or dies at least she will have the memory of it.
> Other options, write in.
>>
>>4754182
Fuck, I meant to say hatch instead of hatchet. Sorry guys.
>>
>>4754182
>> Tell Juniper that we need him to travel the island and that dismissing him now would be cruel. Tell her to just ignore him and let it go.
I think he's endearing but maybe you are going a bit too fast...
>>
>>4754182
> Tell Juniper that we need him to travel the island and that dismissing him now would be cruel.
> Tell em to do whatever, but they should stick with Maggot and make him be careful if they ever wanna make it work.

What >>4754281 said, it's a bit way too fast for "love" and such revelations.
I started liking Maggot recently desu, he's a fuckup but showed that he has his set of skills. Feels like Krieg from Borderlands, but less crazy.
>>
Also how do we make anons rejoin Nukaloha. From what I've read on /qtg/, posting a lot helps get attention.
>>
>>4754335
>posting a lot helps get attention.
That would require us to have actual discussion, and we all seem to be mostly on the same page. Or rather, our schedules seem to be all over the place and we rarely have our few players all at the same time.
>>
>>4754335
The /qtg/ is a cesspool of QM's measuring their own dicks.

My quest won't be overly popular: My work schedule is fucked up so only post whenever I can instead of regularly. This quest isn't full of waifubaiting, waifus rarely appear. And lastly my writing isn't the best, it's kind of boring and has typos or weirdly phrased sentences.

The people that left did so on their own volition. I have four or five players at most. And I like that way. You are all I need. I'm really happy with my playerbase.

Honestly, it's better to have a quiet and nice playerbase and a quest that only gets a few hundred replies than an army of screeching horny retards that flood the tread.
>>
>>4754362
>The /qtg/ is a cesspool of QM's measuring their own dicks.
>You are all I need. I'm really happy with my playerbase.
That's very based and I'm glad to hear that.

>And lastly my writing isn't the best
Oh shut uup. It good.

>>4754350
Yet the two of you responded, heh.
>>
Rolled 1 (1d2)

There's a tie between telling Juniper to ignore him >>4754281 and saying that they should give it a try >>4754329

> Ignore Maggot
1

> Give it a try
2
>>
>>4754465
I'll support that >>4754329 because why not.
>>
All fun and games until our oddly androgynous friend gets Nukawaiian Jungle AIDS.

Abstaining from the vote myself though.
>>
>>4754503
Nukawaiian! I love that term! I'll use it from now on! THanks anon!
>>
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>>4754182
> Tell Juniper that we need him to travel the island and that dismissing him now would be cruel.
> Tell em to do whatever, but they should stick with Maggot and make him be careful if they ever wanna make it work.

"Like him or not he's part of our team now. Despite being...quite hard to endure and get along with his aid has been incredibly useful. Perhaps he's just a broken person that doesn't knows how to act in front of non raider folk like us. I think that we should give him a try. And, about dating him? Just wait until this is all over, perhaps you could teach him how to fly and get a nice business moving people or cargo across the island, you know a safe and honourable job that will let you two grow old. But...if learn from my mistakes alright? The wasteland is a place that keeps you constantly on edge and stressed. Don't let the wasteland ruin your relationships like it happened to me."

Jun nods and pats your shoulder twice before heading deeper into the sewers. The drainage tunnel that you are crossing ultimately opens into the beach, it seems like the people that built Tomorrowland didn't finish the sewage system and simply let all fall into the waters. The view is quite breathtaking, the beach and the ocean are absolutely stunning, the skies are almost clear and in the distance the sun shines intensely. A shame that this paradise hosts such diabolic people inside. Before the Great War Hawaii was considered a paradise on Earth, the nuclear bombs bathed everything on fire, but the planet has cooled down and recovered, plants and life have returned, the only thing that keeps this place from being a paradise are the dangerous raiders and all the other scum. You have two children now, you are afraid for their safety, and there are countless other people that also live in fear. You have lived with doubt for too long, you are sure of what's your mission now, clean the wasteland and make it a safer place, just like the Vault Dweller, Chosen One and Courier Six did before.

You look your map and see that you are only a couple of miles away from the location on your plane.

"Hey, look at this." Jun says as he handles you some binoculars. "There's a town a few feet from here. In the opposite direction to the Dreadnought. Looks like it was built on stilts over the waters. It looks inhabited. Want to visit it or go straight to the plane?"

> Let's go to the plane.
> Let's explore the village. If there are enemies we will be able to take them out. We need to clean this island of murderers.
> Other options, write in.
>>
>>4754612
> Ask AI what it thinks about the view and if our armor can be tweaked to operate more efficiently.
> Let's go to the plane.

It might've found room for improvement that couldn't be achieved by software alone, since it's supposed to have all the deets and control.
>>
>>4754612
>> Let's explore the village. If there are enemies we will be able to take them out. We need to clean this island of murderers.
>>
>>4754612
> Let's explore the village. If there are enemies we will be able to take them out. We need to clean this island of murderers.

But let's do some recon on the village from afar first. That way we can sneak away if it's full of supermutants or something
>>
>>4754612
> Ask AI what it thinks about the view and if our armor can be tweaked to operate more efficiently.
> Do some recon on the village from afar first
> Let's explore the village. If there are enemies we will be able to take them out. We need to clean this island of murderers.

"Hey, Roa." You call.

"Yes, Diego?" It replies instantly. Juniper cannot hear it, and so gives you a weird look.

"Are there any ways you can optimise my armor?"

"Analysing, please wait...Analysing, please wait...Analysing, please wait..."

While the artificial intelligence works you look at Jun and proceed to explain what's happening.

"Saint gave me an AI, the orange holotape?"

"Oh yeah." She replies. "I saw it. What about it?"

"It's on my Power Armor. Calls itself Roa. You can't hear it. I'm not going crazy. I swear."

"We are all a little bit crazy, it's ok, it's pretty cool that you have an AI. What can it do?"

"Well, apparently it can automatically administer med-x and stimpaks, take control of the armor and even improve its functions."

"Take control of the armor? Then you better keep an eye on it." He replies with a short and dry laugh.

"Why? You scared that it will go all murderous and kill us?"

"Nah, I'm thinking more of JC, the guy is a robanizer, wait...robo-womanizer? Whatever. After the battle I saw him connecting with Saint's mainframe if you catch my drift, and I heard something about a roborgy? I... I don't want to know what it entails. Apparently Maggot is up to joining in, he even invited me. Anyway, if you someday wake up in the middle of the night and hear loud banging metal and your armor and JC are missing then be afraid, be very afraid."

"What the...when did all of this happen?"

"Oh man. You were absolutely beaten after the fight, you slept like twelve hours or so. The rest of us got up way before you did. Saint only turned on the coffee and music when you woke up thought."

"Huh."
>>
>>4754836

Suddenly Roa's cold robotic voice chimes again.

"Analysis complete. This armor was a prototype. There are three firmware updates on its internal databank that were never installed: ENERGY CONSUMPTION IMPROVEMENT, KINETIC DELIVERANCE UPGRADE, SURVIVAL TOOLKIT INSTALLATION. Internal memory is limited. Only one update can be installed. More DATABANKS are required for further updates."

"Juniper, recon the town." You say as you return the binoculars. "Roa is telling me something..."

Juniper nods and hides in the nearby tall grass while spies on the far away town.

"Roa, describe the updates." You then say.

"ENERGY CONSUMPTION IMPROVEMENT: The Power-Armors microfusion breeders and its energetic Helmoltz Volt-Syphons will be updated with new software. This new software will reduce energy consumption by half. The armor will never overheat anymore."

"Alright, that's great. What else you got?"

"KINETIC DELIVERANCE UPGRADE: The servomotors that power the hydraulic muscle bundles and the Exothermic burners will be upgraded with better energy routing. You will become drastically faster and stronger."

"Good, good, and the last one?"

SURVIVAL TOOLKIT INSTALLATION: This update will allow your helmet's visor to act like a natural scope and let you zoom to recon far away areas or snipe distant enemies. It will also teach me how to lockpick doors and perform minor surgeries and first aid treatment. If we find a locked door or a treatable wound I will be able to take control of your hands and do the work for you."

> Choose the Energy Consumption Improvement update.
> Choose the Kinetic Deliverance Upgrade update.
> Choose the Survival Toolkit Installation update.
> Other options, write in.
>>
>>4754839
>> Choose the Energy Consumption Improvement update.
>>
>>4754839
> Choose the Survival Toolkit Installation update.
> Thank Roa after all is said and done.

I'm 50/50 between option 1 and 3, so let the best vote win.
>>
1 is the most useful for the combat we'll be getting into, while 3 will be handy if one of our allies takes a hit. I'll go for option 1.
>>
>>4754839
> Choose the Energy Consumption Improvement update

We don't want to get stuck again so definitely this one
>>
>>4754839
> Choose the Energy Consumption Improvement update

"Roa. Install the Energy Consumption Improvement update. And thank you appreciated."

The Artificial Intelligence takes a while to reply, it looks like it was debating between responding to your gratitude or staying quiet, and being silent ultimately won. You know that the AI is listening to everything that you and the others say and witnessing your actions, that he's being shaped and changing with every minute that he spends with you. You better be careful of what you do or say, who knows what kind of AI you might end creating after all.

Your HUD once more changes and shows a blurry cascade of code falling down and a loading bar that quickly fills. The moment the download and installation is over you then feel the fans in the back of your armor spinning loudly and several electrical sparks coming out. You don't understand what's going on, but it feels as if your entire armor were being reworked from head to toes.

"Installation complete. Armor updated.

With that said and done you return to Juniper and crouch next to him.

"So, what did you see?"

"I'm not sure the town is inhabited or not. It looks incredibly old, the wood is made of is mostly covered in barnacles and half rotten, many ceilings, walls and floors look broken. There are some tugboats but they are all half sunken. I've seen some movement, we should be cautious."

> Go all in. It looks like there aren't many enemies.
> Wait until night and sneak inside. Use the darkness in your favour.
> Send Jun to the Seaplane, have him fly it to Tomorrowland and in the meanwhile attack the rotten town.
> Other options, write in.
>>
>>4755782
> Other options, write in.

This sounds dodgy af, let's just get on the plane and get back to tomorrow land. Probably best to stay on mission before our kids get turned into mutants.
>>
>>4755782
> Just get on the plane and get back to tomorrow land.
Dreadnought go brr
>>
>>4755782
> Wait until night and sneak inside. Use the darkness in your favour.
we never get to use our +40 sneak shroud
>>
Alright, going to the plane wins. You guys have avoided a pretty nasty encounter. I can tell you about it if you want. It will spoiler some details about the High Evolutionary religion thought.
>>
>>4756296
>we never get to use our +40 sneak shroud
We will use it to wrap our babies and hide them from the High Evolutionary. You'll see.
>>
>>4756309
I'm curious about quest BtS like this, but don't wanna know stuff ahead, so maybe drop it after we learn those details in the story? If you end up posting explanation early, pls put it in spoiler.
>>
>>4756309
I'd like to know but agree with the other anon that it should be spoilered
>>
Sorry for the delay. We only have one laptop at my house and my gf needs it for work stuff. Next update soon.
>>
Alright, here's what I had planned for that seaside town:

We would have seen that there entire island is empty, there are clues that in the past people lived there, there are homes and even shops, but their interiors have been emptied and turned into hydroponic gardens that grow all kind of vegetables and also maggot and fish farms, so somebody must at least be living here and working all of those farms?

Flying around town there would have been clouds of radgulls and mutated insects, clearly attracted by all the food. Another common sight in the town would be that everywhere there would be dozens of scarecrows, this would make sense to keep all of the pests at bay... but the scarecrows move? After removing their clothes we would have discovered that they are in reality feral ghouls that have been crucified and costumed.

Ultimately we would discover that the entire settlement is inhabited by two sentient ghouls, that also dress up as scarecrows. They would have told us that the town predates the creation of the High Evolutionary, that before them they were a pacific town of fishermen and farmers that lived in peace. When the High Evo appeared and quickly swept over the island they gave two options, join them or die. Soon enough all the peaceful settlements were gone and only violent tribes remained. In their case there was no option. According to the High Evolutionary religion ghouls are the lowest kind of creature.

The High Evolutionary believe in reincarnation. Be strong and die in battle and you will reincarnate as a strong human, each heroic death will make you reincarnate as someone stronger than before, continue like this for long enough and ultimately you will be someone powerful enough to beat the blood games and become a Super-Mutant demigod like them. On the other hand if you die a coward's death you will reincarnate as something weaker, continue descending and you will start reincarnating as critters, continue having cowardly deaths and ultimately you will reach the bottom tier, Ghouls.
[1/2]
>>
>>4756828

According to High Evolutionary religion Ghouls are the coward's punishment. They are someone with a human mind, but unable to die of old age or disease. They can only go up. This has made them become pariahs among the island's population, and hunted for sport.

Back to the settlement. Unlike other towns this one wasn't given a chance of joining them, they were instead attacked without remorse for being ghouls. Most of the town were killed but several managed to escape or hide. The town spent abandoned for several months but its original inhabitants slowly returned to their homes and started dressing up and hiding as scarecrows any time that raiders came close. Ultimately living in a near constant state of fear caused the ghouls to go mad and become feral. Whenever that happened the rest turned them into living scarecrows, that way they could at least serve a purpose. Now only two people remain, they secretly gift food to merchants in a way of spitting the High Evolutionary, because their dogma hates charity acts.

Unfortunately they would quickly change from nice and friendly to aggressive. They would mention how during the years that they spent hiding a cult formed, one that believed that to have a good harvest they would require a human sacrifice. During the first years they had no problem to get the sacrifices, there were plenty of tribals and explorers to take from, but lately they have been having more and more trouble... Good thing you came by, right?

They would liberate every feral ghoul scarecrow and soon enough you two would be surrounded by enemies. Fighting would ensue. The town would go in flames. The end.


[2/2]
>>
>>4756831
Well that's a fair bit of lore of the H.E. we missed but nothing we can't find out later.
Pretty sure the bit about ghouls is different from the og quest.
>>
>>4755782
> Just get on the plane and get back to tomorrow land.

"Forget about it. We already wasted too much time in Tomorrowland. We need to go back as soon as possible. We can't stop and liberate or destroy every raider town that we see. That would attract too much unwanted attention and also slow us down, we need to go to the Fortress."

"Yeah." The pilot says as he stores the binoculars. "I agree."

Together you walk the shoreline being careful of any privy eyes or enemies that might roam and lurk around. The coasts are pretty clear, in the sands you can constantly find half buried bones, dead fish, mirelurk carcasses and empty bullet shells, in the waters there are dozens of half sunken ships, a grim reminder of the countless people that were forcefully attracted to these coasts by pirates and then killed for sport or food.

After a short while the small mound of sand and corpses that you used to cover the seaplane appears on sight, above it circling carrion eaters fly attracted by the smell, swarms of small flies also surround the area. Quickly you two proceed to move the tarp away and just as you are halfway through several darting arrows and spears start landing close to your feet. Alarmed you look at the jungle ahead and see several tribals hiding in the foliage.

Unfortunately the camouflage that you two are wearing has been crafted to hide you in the green and lush jungle, now that you are in the golden beaches you are easily detectable. Since you are the strongest of the two you get into removing the tarp and dismantling the camp while Juniper goes ahead and starts wildly shooting her shotgun at the jungle. The tribals are so well hidden that he surely won't hit any of them, but at least the cover fire might make them stop launching arrows and spears at your direction. You dismantle the camp, store everything in the Dreadnought and thanks to your superhuman strength manage to push it into the waters. Juniper quickly jumps inside and runs into the pilot's seat and starts pressing buttons and flipping switches that slowly start to turn on the engines and get the massive plane moving. More spears and arrows fly and land around you, several even stick into the wings but ultimately the plane manages to take off and fly once more. You are happy to be back here, this plane offers you a sense of safety that no other place in the island gave you.
>>
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>>4756936

"How long...." You say huffing and panting, exhausted from all that work in such a short time. "How long until we reach Tomorrowland?"

"Ten minutes give or take."

You nod and look at the windows and see a massive jungle spanning the entire island and in the distance several pillars of smoke.

"Is that Tomorrowland?" You ask.

"Yeah, it looks like they have already starting burning the corpses."

"Then what is that?" You ask as you sit next to her and point at another massive pillar of smoke.

"I've seen it too. At first I thought it was a volcano, but it makes no sense, it isn't on a mountain or anything."

"You think it could be the Fortress?"

"Well." She says with a shrug. "Apparently its the only big settlement around, the rest are all small tribes and whatnot. If anything can make so much smoke it has to be a volcano, a natural fire or a massive city."

"Can we fly above it?"

Juniper looks at several indicators and even taps a couple of them.

"I'm gonna be honest with you. Yes we can, but we are kind low on fuel, and this ship isn't the most stealthy one. Your call really."

> Fly above the smoke pillar and observe what it is.
> Go to Tomorrowland as planned, regroup with the rest and continue on foot.
> Go to Tomorrowland as planned, regroup with the rest, see if you can scrounge some fuel and then fly to the smoke pillar.
> Other options, write in.
>>
>>4756941
>this ship isn't the most stealthy one
Well then those freaking BoS nerds scammed us, for free.
> Go to Tomorrowland as planned, regroup with the rest, see if you can scrounge some fuel and then fly to the smoke pillar.
>>
Seconding
>>
>>4756941
>>4756947
+1

>Add quiet engines, a Stealth Field that will make you temporally invisible to the naked eye and add countermeasures that make you undetectable by radars and other electronic measures.
my ass

Btw, was Nukaloha Redux #5 archived yet? I couldn't find it on TINATE.
>>
>>4756947
>Well then those freaking BoS nerds scammed us, for free.
>>4757927
>>Add quiet engines, a Stealth Field that will make you temporally invisible to the naked eye and add countermeasures that make you undetectable by radars and other electronic measures.
>my ass

HAHA! You got me. I tried to fool ya but you guys are too clever. Juniper didn't remember about the Stealth Field. He simply said that we weren't stealthy because we are a fucking huge seaplane.

>Do you want me to add an option to fly while invisible?
>>
>>4757927
>Btw, was Nukaloha Redux #5 archived yet? I couldn't find it on TINATE.
Nope, not yet. I'll archive it on suptg once it falls of the catalog.
>>
>>4756941
>> Fly above the smoke pillar and observe what it is

Of course reminding Jun about our stealth field, so we can fly over the fortress without getting shot down.

Couple quick recon passes to conserve fuel and then back to tomorrowland. We can get Saint to collect fuel while we continue the quest.
>>
>>4756941
Changing >>4757927 to >>4758043

>>4757938
Oh, okay then. Idk how the suptg work and just wanted to make sure.
>>
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>>4756941
> Fly above the smoke pillar and observe what it is

"Wait, remember that the Brotherhood installed quiet engines and a Stealth Field in the plane." You tell her as you start looking around for the buttons that activate the array of interconnected Stealth-Boys that will momentarily turn the entire plane invisible.

"Yeah, you are right, I forgot. You think we should recon then?"

You finally find the set of switches that you have to flip and nod at him.

"Yes. Crossing the jungle would take us days, if not weeks, and we aren't even sure of where the Fortress is, we could be exploring for months. We don't have that time."

Juniper nods and starts changing course, sending the massive plane towards the gigantic column of smoke. Had this entire island not be covered in a thick and lush jungle seeing the smoke pillar would have been easy, but alas a constant foliage covers the sky, and makes even knowing the time of the day something impossible. Looking down all you see is greenery everywhere. Just like from the ground its impossible to see the sky the inverse also applies.

The Stealth Field won't last for a long time, a few minutes at most. Juniper ascends and flies into some clouds to hide and delay the activation of the field as long as possible. Swarms of colorful mutant parrots and radgulls fly around you, in the distance you can see dolphins jumping across the ocean, massive of colorful glowing fishes, the wrecks of countless ships covered in coral down below.
>>
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>>4758603

"Activating the Stealth Field...NOW!" Juniper screams as he suddenly plunges down the seaplane. The descent is so sudden and so fast that you feel your stomach rolling and lifting. Nervously you flip the switch and feel a electric vibration that quickly engulfs the entire vessel and turns everything indivisible. Thanks to the sudden plunge the seaplane gains a massive boost of speed. Juniper kills the engines and just as the plane is only a few dozen feet above the jungle she starts to grunt and pull the controls to start turning the plane horizontally and avoid a certain death. Juniper is in his element now, moving the controls with ease and blinding speed and pushing buttons and dials that you don't even know what they do. Flying faster than ever and with its engines quiet the plane passes over a massive wooden fortress, in its centre there's a coliseum like arena with a great pile of corpses that are getting burnt, around it there's a disgusting swamp full of small huts. There's a lot of people down there, at least a thousand.

"I've seen enough, turn around." You then say. You never expected so many people. There's an entire army down there, and that's just the people that gathered and survived the journey to attend the blood games. There's no way that you will be able to kill so many people.

The pilot nods and turns on the engines before quickly ascending back to the clouds. Halfway through the invisibility field turns off, hopefully nobody has seen you in the air. The journey back to Tomorrowland is done in silence. Juniper seems to be terrified as well, but if he really feels that way she's keeping it to himself. Running almost on fumes the seaplane somewhat awkwardly lands on Tomorrowland's main street. Since this vessel was created to land on water its landing wheels are pretty small, and the street can barely be considered a landing strip. Still, Juniper excels at his piloting skill and manages to safely land without a scratch.

Together you go down and see several piles of burning corpses and robots patrolling or working in cleaning the streets, using hoses to clean all the dirt, nasty water and blood and sweeping the dust that has collected over the years. It seems like Saint has been busy.
>>
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>>4758604

"Welcome back! You took longer than I calculated, did you have any trouble?" A speaker located in a street wall suddenly chimes.

"Yeah, we've finally located the Fortress." You reply, looking at a CCTV camera that suddenly turns at your direction.

"You did? That's great! Where is it?"

"I got the coordinates." Juniper suddenly says.

"You did? When?" You then ask, truly curious as you didn't see him take note of anything, she simply didn't had the time, he spent the entire time pushing buttons and working hard to keep the airplane on the air. Juniper taps the side of her nogging and then snickers.

"Latitude 19.58515. Longitude -155.16174. I took a mental note while we flew overhead."

"Wow..." You reply astonished.

"Let me check my database... yes. It appears on my maps as the Kulani Correctional Facility. A prison?"

"Prisons make great fortresses. Thick walls, barbed wire, lookout towers..." JC says as he suddenly comes out from a door accompanied by Maggot to greet you all. "Besides, they aren't high priority targets, they weren't nuked. The High Evolutionary wouldn't be the first faction that originates in a prison, back in California and the Mojave I hunted down Powder Gangers, a group of violent prisoners turned raiders that harassed Nevada."

"Sounds like nice fellas." An oil stained and completely naked maggot says. It looks like the two of them come from the Roborgy. You don't even want to ask.

"Let me share the data." Saint chimes, downloading in your Pip-Boy the location of the Fortress. It looks like it's at least four days of walking away. Several other locations also appear, mostly farms and roads that are nearby.

"My data is pretty sparse and more than two centuries old. Do you want me to connect to satellites and try to get you updated telemetry? It might take me an entire day thought."

> "No, let's just resupply our inventory, refuel the Dreadnought and continue travelling. Thanks Saint, you are a good friend."
> "Yes, please try to gather as much intel as possible. In the meanwhile we will rest and use your workshop to upgrade our gear."
> "Saint, is there any salvageable vehicle around? A truck or a jeep perhaps? Maybe we could repair it with your help and use it to travel faster."
> Other options, write in.
>>
>>4758608
> "Saint, is there any salvageable vehicle around? A truck or a jeep perhaps? Maybe we could repair it with your help and use it to travel faster."
> Let's have a convo with AI. Like, tell it about our kids and what atrocities High Evo does out of their own volition. Eliminating them seems to be the only option, and we can't do it without getting our hands dirty if we want to save the kids (and others, like Saint).
Basically I think we should explain to it why we're so violent so it doesn't turn into Skynet after Diego goes haywire and turns a bunch of fucks into bloody radioactive pulp...
> Tell Jun to make sure Maggot cleans himself and gets some clothes cause we don't wanna see him like... this.
>>
>>4758608
> "Yes, please try to gather as much intel as possible. In the meanwhile we will rest and use your workshop to upgrade our gear."
> "Saint, is there any salvageable vehicle around? A truck or a jeep perhaps? Maybe we could repair it with your help and use it to travel faster."

Maybe we can get a vehicle working while Saint gets the Intel from the satellites
>>
>>4758667
+1 let's also see what our AI is up to
>>
Sorry for taking so long to reply. I was writing and then suddenly Chrome crashed. And I lost everything. So yeah, that was great.

>>4759136
>juss a reminder that satellite security might fry the poor guy before we get anything
Today I'm in a good mood. So he'll be fine. But if you feel daring you guys can roll for it. You might get a bonus if you do it well.

>Roll 1d100 best of 3
>>
Rolled 28 (1d100)

>>4759148
Oh oof, deleted that cause I thought it could've just been different satellites after posting. Turns out I was correct the first time.
>>
>>4758608

"Yes, please try to gather as much intel as possible. In the meanwhile we will rest and use your workshop to upgrade our gear."

"Sure! I'll get to that. You can use the workshop that is located in the basement. The workers that made this town left behind a plethora of tools, resources and crafting tables. Feel free to use as much as you need. But don't be greedy! I need some spares for my bots.

It's weird that Saint reminded you where the basement with the crafting tables was located. You all had already been there working hard to repair and create robots.

"Huh, yeah, we know. It's the same basement where your mainframe is located. We have been there already."

"You did? Oh...yeah, I mean of course! Sorry Diego, my memory is kind of blurry. I used most of my memory banks to create the AI that is now in your suit. The more memory the quicker it will learn you know? I had to forget... many things. I obviously cannot recall what I forgot, but I feel sad about these memories being gone. There's an entire century missing, what happened during that century, did any people live here?"

It's kind of sad seeing him like this, confused and dazed, but he did this to himself on his own volition, and he did it so you could build a lifelong friend for him. This is sacrifice of his own making. Still, you don't like seeing him in this state, despite having a robotic and glitchy voice there's a clear tone of grief on his words. You better change the subject to distract him.
>>
>>4759307

"Saint, is there any salvageable vehicle around? A truck or a jeep perhaps? Maybe we could repair it with your help and use it to travel faster."

"I... yes. There's an underground parking, I can show you the way. I'm not sure about the vehicles thought. I'm looking at my logs and it seems that I never checked if any of them still worked or not. Seems like I simply didn't because there wasn't any reason. Vehicles or massive paperweights, to me they were equally useless. As far as I can see there are some cars, a bus, and a couple of trucks."

"Thank you Saint. You truly are a Saint." You say with a snort.

"I am... is that the reason of my name? I... I think I will get to connecting with the satellites." He replies slightly confused.

You look at the others and they all give you odd looks, they too feel kind of powerless and sad to see him in such a pitiful state. The conversation ends there thought.

"Juniper, go and check that the Dreadnought is properly fuelled, the robots can be kind of clumsy, specially now that Saint is so confused. I wouldn't want to go in flames a thousand feet in the air because a clumsy Protectron filled the wrong deposit. Also make sure that Maggot cleans himself off before boarding. I don't want his naked and oil stained ass anywhere near my plane. Hose him down if you need to."

Juniper snorts and nods. "With pleasure Boss."

In the meanwhile JC gathers Juniper's and Maggot's weapons and starts heading down into the workshop without a word. He didn't ask you for your weapons, not because he's mad at you or anything like that but because he knows you enough to discern that if you wanted to have any of your weapons upgraded you would have taken the initiative and done it yourself or personally asked him to do it. You are happy with your current gear, you are pretty strong and powerful, but your companions need an upgrade if they want to keep your pace and have a chance at surviving out there. You like JC, he's a good friend, sometimes you even forget that there isn't a heart inside of him, only gears and circuitry. To some people he might not be alive, but to you he's as real as any other person, hell, he's way more real than many people. JC and Saint have souls, there's no denying that, its not only that they are intelligent but also that they have shown that they can do good. Hell, to you they are far more human than many of the raiders and tribals that you have crossed paths with.
>>
>>4759318

While thinking of JC and Saint's personalities you cannot avoid suddenly remembering an old Tesla Science Magazine that you read during your high school years. To be honest science wasn't your favorite subject but reading material was always scarce so you gladly read whatever was at hand. It was the first number of that magazine and it was titled "Will Robots Rule the World?" honestly the title was kind of sensationalist, but it truly caught your eye and made you read it all from start to end. By the time the magazine was published Artificial Intelligences, real ones, were still a novelty and something mysterious and scary. They explained that the only way of creating a real AI was to dump millions of dollars into bleeding edge hypertechnological equipment and then fill it with billions upon billions of lines of code. But...the magazine also speculated that plain and simple artificial intelligences, the ones that couldn't pass as humans, could evolve over time and become more and more humanlike with the pass of time and the human interactions that they experienced. This was all conjectures thought, none of it was proven by then, there were loads of theories and strange predictions, including one where all robots became sentient and decided to live independent from humanity. Perhaps that would have been a better alternative than what truly happened, with the nukes and all of that.

Both Saint and JC started like normal and plain AIs and slowly became humanlike because they were surrounded by people. You know that Roa, the AI installed on your Power Armor, is also observing everything that you do, hearing everything that you say and constantly learning from your every action. What kind of AI will you create? Honestly you are afraid of the final result, this is no place to grow up, and you know that in the foreseeable future all you will do is kill and maim any enemy that gets in your way. You have noble intentions, but will Roa understand your motives, or will he simply believe that any problem can be solved by choosing violence?

You sigh and sit down on the floor, rest your back against a cracked and decrepit wall and proceed to speak with the voice in your armor.

"Roa? Are you there?"

"Hello Diego. How can I assist you?"

"Roa, what do you think of me?"

Initiating analysis... you are healthy.

"No, no, that's not what I meant. Alright, we have some time before we depart. Listen up, and listen up good."

> Tell everything, the good and the bad. Be as honest as one can be.
> Tell only the good parts of your life. Skip the mistakes that you made. You don't want Roa to judge you.
> Twist the truth. Exaggerate the good parts and skip or twist the bad ones to make you look good.
> Other options,write in.
>>
>>4759321
> Tell everything, the good and the bad. Be as honest as one can be.
Us looking ideal won't help Roa and will only set their expectations of humans too high.
> Tell it about Saint
So it can later remind him of what happened over the centuries. It could also be used to show Roa how devastating and infectious war can be (since Tomorrowland failed because government started war preparations, letting everything else fall into the void).
>>
>>4759321
>> Tell everything, the good and the bad. Be as honest as one can be.

This is a difficult one, as potentially we are creating a Skynet type scenario where our AI could become self-aware and decide humans are more of a problem than anything else. But I agree with zxc that this is probably the best option.

Also maybe let Saint interface with ROA to get at least an idea of what happened in the past.
>>
Also, I just want to say that I love the direction we've gone with the writing. True meaning of what it is to be human or at least sentient, etc. It was really ham-fisted in FO4, this is much better.
>>
>>4760064
>Us looking ideal won't help Roa and will only set their expectations of humans too high.
Good thinking.

>So it can later remind him of what happened over the centuries. It could also be used to show Roa how devastating and infectious war can be (since Tomorrowland failed because government started war preparations, letting everything else fall into the void).
Well thought. I'll include that in the next update. Thanks for this kind of input, its always appreciated!

>>4760127
> Also maybe let Saint interface with ROA to get at least an idea of what happened in the past.
Excellent idea. This will also be included in the next update!

>>4760130
>Also, I just want to say that I love the direction we've gone with the writing. True meaning of what it is to be human or at least sentient, etc. It was really ham-fisted in FO4, this is much better.
Thank you! I'm glad you are enjoying it. Thanks friends!
>>
>>4759321
> Tell everything, the good and the bad. Be as honest as one can be.
> Tell Roa about Saint.
> Let Saint interface with ROA to get at least an idea of what happened in the past.

"Alright! Let's start from the very beginning. I was born in a San Francisco..."

Over the course of a few hours you tell him your entire youth, adult life and time in Hawaii with all kinds of details, you leave no rock unturned, no mistake unmentioned, no humiliating defeat ignored. Roa listens to everything that you say, quietly at first but over time he proceeds to ask questions and in a couple of times you even faintly hear him snort or whisper. Oddly enough as the story goes on his voice and way of speaking becomes more humanlike and less robotic, not by much, but its a good start. Time passes quickly, some moments are harder to tell, gut wrenching even, they get stuck in your throat and make it hard to speak about, your eyes even get wet a couple of times and your lower lip trembles while you are forced to remember your parents, who surely you will never see again, and your children, who you will hopefully see for the first time.

In the distance you see robotic workers come and go, Juniper and Maggot together laughing and cracking bad jokes, JC wheeling around and looking for specific resources to build a mod or two. You continue speaking and telling Roa of your life, and before you can even notice it nighftall comes. The moon shines hard, swarms of mutated bats cover the otherwise clear skies and loudly screech to navigate across the air.

"It's hard to explain how much a child can be important to a father or a mother, it's something that some people just don't get it until they live it. Even humans that aren't parents yet can have trouble to understand it. If you really love your children, you would do anything for then, any sacrifice would be worth it. I think that Saint understood it, he made you with a piece of himself. To better aid your growth he sacrificed Memory slots, and that made him forget the only years where he was truly happy. Are those memories inside of you?"
>>
>>4760648

"I...I'm not sure. Let me check."

While you wait you look at the night sky and see the milky way over your head. This is a sight that many wastelanders must have seen, now that artificial lights aren't as prominent as they were. But you aren't the average wastelander, you lived a sheltered life in a big and civilised city, one full of lights, one where the night sky was almost orange and devoid of stars. That was a long time ago thought, its a fading memory now.

"Yes, he tried to delete everything to give me as much space as possible, but some fragments stood behind." Suddenly in your HUD a grainy and black and white video plays. It's recorded from different CCTV cameras, from Saint's point of view. "I can see people tilting the ground, drinking, chatting, playing card games and having fun, I can see them dancing and working in rebuilding this town. I can see robots and humans living side by side... It, makes me happy and nostalgic, nostalgic of a time that I never lived. It, must be metadata attached to the memories."

You sigh and stand up, cleaning some dust and grime from your armor. "Saint Loves you. Creating you left him weak and confused. Why don't we walk to him and share those memories with him? I'm sure that he will gladly take them."

"Y-yes..." Roa whispers with a surprisingly human doubt on his voice.

You walk to the basement where the Artificial Intelligence is stored and tap a couple of times on the mainframe. It looks like it is still working on getting that satellite data for you, there are far more blinking lights than usual and his cooling fans are working at full speed.

"Saint, are you there?"

"Huh, hey! I'm almost finished! I managed to hack into an old Chilean weather satellite! Not bad for a guy that only has a half broken and rusty satellite dish and doesn't speaks any Spanish huh? Anyway, I'm downloading the maps now, give me a second to share them with you."

"Really? Incredible work Saint. I'm amazed."
>>
>>4760651

"Aww, it ain't nothing. I like helping my friends."

"And so do I, that's why I was wondering if you could interface with my armor and connect with Roa?"

"Sure! Of course I can! That's what I had in mind when he's finally ready. What's on your mind, there's no way that Roa is a real independent AI so soon."

"You are right, we are on a good course thought. We discovered that he has some of your old memories, of that century that you had to delete. He would like to share them with you."

"Really?"

"Yes... Hello, father."

The Power-Armor suddenly stiffens and the HUD gets full of strange cascading code and binary screeches that fill your helmet. It is blinding and deafening, a torturous experience but fortunately it doesn't lasts long. Your HUD goes back to normal and you are given back control of the armor.

"What was that?" You ask.

"We exchanged the data. I learned much, and so did he. Thank you Diego. We can continue with our journey."

"Speaking of that. I analysed the vehicles in the parking lot. There are only three vehicles that could be repaired to a working condition; a van, a bus and a military jeep. Which one should I send to repair?"

> Van: Average Speed. Light armor. Normal Cargo Space.
> Bus: Slow Speed. Light Armor. Very Big Cargo Space.
> Jeep: Average Speed. Medium Armor. Small Cargo Space.
>>
>>4760652
>> Van: Average Speed. Light armor. Normal Cargo Space.

This. The triumphant return of the ~~Pedo~~Party Van!

Also, great wrap-up of the AI story. I really liked the Father bit, caught me off guard!
>>
>>4760683

And goddamnit, why can't I format... ~~PartyVan~~
>>
>>4760684
Someone is going to have to tell me how to do strikethrough and spoiler text.

Also, can we mod the van?
>>
>>4760685
>Someone is going to have to tell me how to do strikethrough and spoiler text.
I think that Strikethrough can only be done by the OP of the thread. Same with every other formatting option except spoiler. To spoil a text select it and then press Control+S

>Also, can we mod the van?
Of course, I know you guys like modding stuff.
>>
>>4760699
Ah, well I'm glad I'm not a total moron then!

OK, if we go with the Party Van then I figure some stealth mods would be appropriate to go along with our camo. Probably need a lift as well for offroading.
>>
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>>4760712
WHat's up with you guys and Party Vans?
>>
>>4760738
Just be happy its no longer called the Pedo Van lol
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>>4760652
> Van: Average Speed. Light armor. Normal Cargo Space.
>>4760738
I was gonna say jeep, but that medium armor won me over.
>>
>>4760738
Also, we have to fit 3 people (all in armour) and a securitron in a vehicle, plus all our stuff. I have a jeep, it's not going to happen with one of those lol. Large van gives us the best of both worlds.
>>
>>4760868
>Also, we have to fit 3 people (all in armour) and a securitron in a vehicle
JC counts as cargo. He goes strapped to the roof/jk
>>
>>4760738
4chan party van AKA the FBI's favorite mode of kidnapping you after you posted loli shit
>>
>>4760921
>4chan party van AKA the FBI's favorite mode of kidnapping you after you posted loli shit
Yeah. I know the meme. Haha pedobear lmao kek kek loli shit pedo pedo moot is a fag kill urself epic win.

Jesus that shit got old really fast.
>>
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>>4760652
> Van: Average Speed. Light armor. Normal Cargo Space.

"We would be cramped in the jeep and the bus would be too hard to navigate across in the jungle. We will take the van. I'll need you to build a plow or something that will help us move away vegetation and small obstacles that might get in the way. Can you also increase the suspension and add offroad wheels?"

A computer screen in Saint's mainframe lights up and shows you a picture of a parked and rusty van. Despite the passage of time and lack of maintenance the vehicle still seems in a pretty good condition.

"Consider it done my friend. I was also thinking in the different updates and modifications that you could add to the vehicle. I have a few ideas."

"Im all ears."

"Well, I could either camouflage it, perhaps armor your vehicle, or make it extra fast, add more cargo space or add weapons. Sadly, I don't have enough resources to craft them all, hell I will only be able to do one of them. I'm running kind of low in supplies, I should send some of my robots to look around, but I'm afraid of them being attacked. Oh jeez."

> Add weapon: Spikes, chainsaws, side flamers, a mounted gun on top.
> Add armor Slabs of steel, anti grenade nets, bulletproof windows and tires.
> Add camo: Camouflage paintjob, mate paint in the metallic parts of the van, silencer in the exhaust and tinted windows.
> Add speed: A turbocharged nucleopiezic engine with nitrous boosting.
> Add cargo: A roof rack that will allow you to carry more cargo and items.
>>
>>4761394
> Add armor Slabs of steel, anti grenade nets, bulletproof windows and tires.
Can we also look for a silencer on our own?
I think that car noises on this island will attract the most attention, so a quiet exhaust would be nice to have.
>>
>>4761394
>> Add speed: A turbocharged nucleopiezic engine with nitrous boosting.
DO YOU LIKE, MY CAR?
>>
>>4761394
> Add armor Slabs of steel, anti grenade nets, bulletproof windows and tires.
>>
>>4761394
> Add camo: Camouflage paintjob, mate paint in the metallic parts of the van, silencer in the exhaust and tinted windows
>>
I would dig a compromise with an improved muffler and exhaust while adding armor, but if it has to be one or the other I'll go with the camo package. Grenade nets is an interesting idea.

YEAH, YEAH, YEAH, I'M GOING QUICK AS A FLASH, AND I'LL BE YOUR HERO

I'm hoping for more terrible encounters now that we're headed into the woods again; really enjoying this adventure and the stuff back at the sea shanty town. Submarine saga was the absolute pinnacle so far of the qst.
>>
>>4761394

Going to go with camo as well. We're going through a thick jungle so speed is not going to be very useful. Best is to stealth our way to the fortress.

That being said we're not going to see shit at night with tinted windows, so maybe switch those to low-glare bulletproof windows.
>>
Holy shit, so many messages, that's awesome! I'm really happy!

I've updated the Character sheet, but it is becoming quite beefy, there's a buttload of information there. Do you want me to divide it in smaller documents?

>>4761463
>Can we also look for a silencer on our own?
Sure! I would normally roll 2d100 to see if we find the silencer or not, but our fucking Pip-Boy gives us +18 to every dice roll, and our perception is 8, so yeah, no need to roll, we find it no problem. We are starting to get overpowered as hell, we have 12 STR and 14 CHA, that's superhuman levels for fucks sake lmao

>>4761472
>DO YOU LIKE, MY CAR?
I do yes sire.

>>4762036
>I'm hoping for more terrible encounters now that we're headed into the woods again;
The only reason we didn't dozens of Cazaclaws, Spore Carriers and crazed tribals yet is because you guys rolled incredibly good and made everybody get awesome camouflage. I won't be so lenient from now on.

>really enjoying this adventure and the stuff back at the sea shanty town. Submarine saga was the absolute pinnacle so far of the qst.
I'm glad! I hope you will also enjoy the future arcs.

>>4762065
>That being said we're not going to see shit at night with tinted windows, so maybe switch those to low-glare bulletproof windows.
These are special windows, dark in one side and clear on the other.
>>
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>>4761394
> Add camo: Camouflage paintjob, mate paint in the metallic parts of the van, silencer in the exhaust and tinted windows.

A Protectron is sent to fetch the van and drive it towards the garage and surprisingly the old clunky bot manages to do it without crashing. Once the vehicle enters the automated garage several mechanical tentacle like arms start surrounding it and get ready to apply the modifications that you requested.

The entire vehicle is lifted and the underside reworked completely, as the robotic arms work sparks fly wildly, in a moment the exhaust is changed for a better and quieter version, mufflers and a silencer are installed, a lifted hydraulic suspension is added and the windows and tires are changed for tinted and off road versions respectively.

Once all the modifications have been added the robotic arms retreat and get their ends changed from tools to paint guns. Together they quickly cover the entire vehicle in a fine layer of mate black paint and proceed to add a green and lush camouflage pattern over the body. The final result is great, it will greatly camouflage over the lush and green jungle that awaits outside.

In the entrance gate you await with the rest of your team, JC has made a great work modding your companion's gear, Juniper is still wearing his pilot's uniform and mask but now over her clothes he wears several armor pieces, on her back there is a long and powerful looking sniper rifle, on his hips to intimidating looking pistols, on her boot a long trench knife. Maggot is also stronger looking, he still looks like a raggedy raider, but now his gear is covered in armor slabs covered in spikes, on his back hangs a flamethrower, on his belt a ripper, a submachine gun and several grenades. Lastly JC seems to have modded himself as well, there are several new armor pieces covering his chassis and screen, on his shoulders you can see grenade launchers, one of his arms looks like has been modified to fire rockets as well.

"Diego, can I speak with you?" JC tells you while you await for the Van to be delivered to your location.

"Of course. Is there anything wrong?" You reply.

"No, everything is alright. I was just wondering what the big plan is."

The moment he says this Juniper and Maggot get interested in your conversation, they tilt their heads looking towards you two.
>>
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>>4762294

"Go there. Kill as many High Evolutionary as we can. Destroy them if possible, and save my kids. The High Evolutionary are a cancer, they need to be eradicated."

"And then?" The robot asks.

"Then...? Well, I don't know. There are many things wrong on this wasteland. The Enclave for example. You and I know that they can be intimidating, but they aren't invincible, they were defeated in California. We can do the same here."

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

"Why do you ask, is something troubling you?"

"Yes, well, no. I just wanted to know what would you do after this ends. I like this place. Saint is a great guy, and his robots are strong, but he doesn't knows much about fighting and the wasteland. He is afraid of sending his robots to search for resources. This small town everything he knows. Without me he will end losing all of his robots, and then he will be defenceless... I want to move here, live here."

"I... I'm your friend JC, I cannot stop you. I think you will do great here."

Juniper nods and pats the robot's shoulder. Maggot stays quiet.

"I wanted to know what your plans were. Because I don't want to leave your side before you are completely done. I'm loyal like that. If after the High Evo you plan to go after the Enclave, I'll be by your side."

"Thanks my friend, I'm lucky to have you by my side. When this is all over I promise that I will come here and visit you. Hell, perhaps I might even move here, this place isn't so bad." You say with a snicker.

The Protectron chauffeur brings the modified van and parks it in front of you. You place in the rear boxes of food, water, ammo, chems and many other supplies that you have gathered for the journey and Juniper gets in the driver's seat, Maggot rides shotgun. Since JC and you are the biggest members of the team you two go in the back, kind of cramped next to all the cargo that you have brought.

"Good bye and good luck!" Saint screams across all of the town speakers, so loud and sudden that he sends dozens of mutated parrots flying in every direction as they scream his words across the jungle.

Juniper turns on the quiet engine and starts driving into the jungle.

> Roll 1d100!
> Each player can roll 1 time!
> There isn't a max number of rolls!
> Good luck!! You'll need it
>>
Rolled 7 (1d100)

>>4762297
>>
shidamitfuc
>>
Rolled 27 (1d100)

>>4762297
>>
>>4762375
damn
>>
Rolled 48 (1d100)

>>4762297
don't read this quest coming in for the save
>>
>>4762459
>don't read this quest coming in for the save
Thank you for your honesty at least.
>>
Also, these rolls are for encounters, it doesn't matters if you roll low or high, you are fucked anyway.
>>
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>>4762547
That's rough. Too bad that Diego is physically incapable of giving a fuck.
>>
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>>4762584
Perhaps. But what about his companions? This isnt their war.
>>
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>>4762592
With JC and Maggot we are the war.
Juniper just keeps our front mobile.

And if Hevo isn't destroyed now, this might soon be everyone's war.
>>
Rolled 40, 50, 35, 27, 42 = 194 (5d100)

Sorry for the delay, I was busy. I will roll a few d100's so we have more nasty encounters.
>>
Rolled 5 (1d100)

Big Coconut No Shark
>>
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>>4762297

Juniper starts to drive and quickly heads into the jungle. Soon enough the outline of Tomorrowland disappears, and all around you becomes jungle. Green plants and lush vegetation as far as the eye can see, so thick that it even blankets the sky. Luckily for you there are still some damaged yet driveable roads, the vegetation hasn't been completely able to crack the old and thick asphalt, but it won't be long until even it disappears completely.

You share the data that Saint gave to you with JC and once the robot receives it promptly prints a map for Maggot so he can better guide your driver. Despite having a working and adapted vehicle you are pretty sure that this will be a long and arduous journey, and your fears are confirmed pretty quickly.

Only a few minutes after starting to drive Maggot suddenly screams "Wait wait, stop! We can't go that way."

"Why not?" Asks Juniper.

"Look ahead, the path is boneblocked." He replies as he looks with Juniper's binoculars.

"Boneblocked?" Juniper says as he grabs the binoculars. "Oh fuck. I wish I had never learned what it meant."

Confused you turn around to look and grab the binoculars to look as well. Boneblocked is the perfect word to describe what's in front of you, the entire road is blocked by a massive mound of rotten corpses, most of which have been devoured to the bones by the local fauna.

"So, what can we do?" You ask.

"Reroute, find another path. Give me a second." JC replies as he calculates the best alternative pathway. "Alright, go back, there's a side road that we can use."

Juniper groans and starts slowly turning the vehicle around. This is quite a bad start to be honest, and everybody can feel it, it's only gonna get worse from now on.
>>
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>>4763079

"Jeez, this is more depressing than a clown funeral. Heh, you know, cuz they are are supposed to be funny? I mean, I guess? I've never seen a clown, a non feral ghoul clown at least." Maggot says as he shudders. "Feral ghoul clowns are creepy man. Make me wake up in cold sweat every now and then... Fuck it, I'm gonna turn on the radio."

The raider then tunes into Rainbow Jack's Radio Shack to listen so some songs and his crazy antics and at least brighten up the mood. The volume is low to avoid being heard from the outside, but its an improvement at least.

You all start quietly listening to the music, but soon start humming or tapping your fingers and whistling or whisper singing and what a few moments ago was a sombre and depressing journey quickly turns into something quite cheerful. Until suddenly a corpse is flung in front of you. The corpse spatters against the ground and several of his limbs completely separate or turn into complete gore from the tremendous impact. In the distance bullets and screams can be heard. Jun quickly turns off the radio and drives away from the road to hides in the vegetation, every one of you get dead quiet and observe the developing scene.

More screams, louder this time. From the vegetation up ahead several tribespeople and raiders emerge, wildly shooting crude machineguns at the jungle.

"Fuck this!" Screams one of the raiders to a tribal. "I'm outta here!"

"Coward! The Godly Kunuiakea will punish you for this. Cowards like you don't evolve in the next life. You will be reborn as a radroach, or worse, a ghoul!" The tribal yells back.

"Yeah yeah, whatever, no amount of caps is worth this trouble. Capturing Cazaclaws for the blood games? I shoulda never accepted this shit. Most of my men are dead, this ust aint worth it. Fuck."

"Your men died in battle, they will be reborn as stronger and mightier warriors. Face their same fate and you will be reborn with them. Run away and you will be reborn as their prey."

The raider gets ready to reply but he never gets the chance. From the vegetation a massive cazaclaw comes out, the raiders and the tribesmen try their best to fight the mutant abomination but the creature easily kills them one by one. They put out a good fight thought, it looks like the creature has ended pretty damaged from the attack.

> Stay quiet and wait until it leaves. Pray that it doesn't finds you.
> You have heard of Cazaclaws before, and its clear that they are going to appear in the Blood Games. Get out and fight it to see how well you might fare in the games.
> Other options, write in.
>>
The thing shrugged off a bunch of raiders' gunfire; best we let it pass, but be prepared to leap out of the back of the van to fight it if it spots us.
>>
>>4763083
>> You have heard of Cazaclaws before, and its clear that they are going to appear in the Blood Games. Get out and fight it to see how well you might fare in the games.
>>
>>4763083
> Stay quiet and wait until it leaves. Pray that it doesn't finds you.

We have camo for a reason
>>
>>4763083
> Stay quiet and wait until it leaves. Pray that it doesn't finds you.
> Quietly ask Roa if they have any useful combat/creature info either from Saint when they exchanged data, or Saint's old memories.
>>
>>4763083
> Stay quiet and wait until it leaves. Pray that it doesn't finds you.
> Quietly ask Roa if they have any useful combat/creature info either from Saint when they exchanged data, or Saint's old memories.

Everybody gets dead quiet, the engine is turned off, nobody dares to breathe. The cazaclaw sniffs the air, grows into the jungle and licks its wounds before grabbing a corpse with its powerful jaws and leaping back into the wilderness.

"Holy fuck." Maggot whispers, legs trembling slightly.

"Saint, do you have any information about Cazaclaws?" You quietly ask.

To your surprise Roa's voice is then heard across the Van's speakers, it seems like the AI can somehow connect with the vehicle's radio and use it as a way of speaking with everybody.

"Negative. Nothing in my memories about them, and I didn't had enough time to analyse and scan it."

"I've heard about Cazaclaws. But they are worse than I imagined." Maggot says. "Apparently the Enclave genetically created them from mutant DNA from the mainland. They created several eggs and air dropped them into Hawaii to keep the High Evolutionary and its tribal goons busy and contained. Seems like it worked."

"It did." Juniper adds. "My grandfather told me that before the Enclave filled the jungles with Cazaclaws and Spore Carriers the High Evo raids were much more common."

"Jesus. Deathclaws and Cazadores having a lovechild..." JC says.

"We don't have any of that here. Tell me about 'em." Says Maggot.

"Deathclaws are giant dinosaur like abominations, with claws as big as trench knives, and so sharp that they can even cut Power-Armor like butter. Cazadores are giant mutated wasps, they are incredibly fast, hit like a truck and have a pretty powerful poison to boot. This Cazaclaw, it looks like its smaller than the average Deathclaw, it's wings wouldn't allow it to fly, but it surely can easily leap enormous distances, we should expect that they are poisonous as well."

"You don't plan to participate in the games right?" Juniper asks.

"If that allows me to get my children back I will." You reply.

The pilot sighs and after checking around and seeing that it's safe turns on the engine and starts driving across a dirt road. The rest of the day is quite uneventful, from time to time you can see gory totems made from twisted metal and dozens of corpses, they are an ominous sight, but they mean that you are in the correct path., after a while you even get used to them.

"It's getting late. Maggot you should drive now." Juniper says.

"I don't know how to drive."
>>
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>>4764076

Juniper groans and softly punches the steering wheel.

"Well JC and Diego cannot get in the driver's seat, and I don't dare to drive and risk falling asleep. Can Roa drive?"

"Negative. I can beam my voice across the radio, but not physically connect and control the vehicle."

"Hey, we are all tired. Why don't we look for a place to rest and set camp and sleep for a while huh?"

Juniper is clearly exhausted, she isn't only driving across treacherous terrain but also keeping a constant eye of any danger that might appear from the bushes, and it looks like the sudden appearance of the Cazaclaw has left him shaken and pretty stressed. He has been driving with her body completely tense and stiff for hours, no wonder why is she so tired. Honestly, each one of you is

Maggot grabs the binoculars and gets out to look around.

"I see a treehouse not very far away, its very high, the tree it's built on is fucking massive. I see no lights or people thought."

> The sooner you find a place to crash the more you will be able to rest. Inspect the three house and if safe sleep in here.
> Have everybody explore around for a safe place to hide and rest on. This might take hours, but might be the best option if you are lucky enough.
> Other options, write in.
>>
>>4764078
> The sooner you find a place to crash the more you will be able to rest. Inspect the three house and if safe sleep in here.

Can we tell Roa to keep an eye and ear on the surroundings at all times, so if something escapes our attention, the armor will dodge/block/punch the danger in the dick before Diego can react? As long as it doesn't break our joints with sudden movement, that is.
>>
>>4764116
>Can we tell Roa to keep an eye and ear on the surroundings at all times, so if something escapes our attention, the armor will dodge/block/punch the danger in the dick before Diego can react? As long as it doesn't break our joints with sudden movement, that is.
His job is to protect us, so sure, AI controlled dick punching is something completely possible.
>>
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>>4764117
Nice, please ask him to do so.
>>
Treehouse
>>
>>4764078
> The sooner you find a place to crash the more you will be able to rest. Inspect the three house and if safe sleep in here.
>>
>>4764078
> The sooner you find a place to crash the more you will be able to rest. Inspect the three house and if safe sleep in here.

You get out of the van from the rear door and look at the great tree with a house on top. You were expecting something simple, something that a child or someone might have built hastily, but this is a proper building.

"We will inspect the house, be prepared, we might find ferals or tribals inside. Guns hot and trigger ready understood?" You say as you grab your Laser Pistol.

"Roa, you think you can increase my survival rate?"

"I'll observe your environment and protect you from attackers that you haven't detected yet. This will increase your chances of survival by a 24%"

"Thanks, you are a lifesaver."

"I literally am."

The rest nod and exit the vehicle as well. All around you fireflies dance and fly, distant croaking sounds and animal screeches can be heard, and even further, gunshots. As you approach the base of the tree and start walking around it to see any means of ascending suddenly you see a suit of Power-armour chained to the tree. The armor is missing the helmet, there's still someone inside, a feral ghoul that wildly grunts and screeches the moment it sees you. Who knows how long has he been here, the armor is covered in rust and moss, it looks like he has spent several years at least, the chains around it are also rusty and few have even started to erode and crack. It looks like the armor is too rusted to move, the feral ghoul is completely trapped and can only move and jerk his head. It's hard to say why would anyone do this, but whoever did it made sure that he would never escape, there are at least fifty chains and a dozen locks and nails keeping him stuck to the tree.

"Why would anyone do this?" Juniper asks as she passes by.

"Two reasons. It can be a warning, or an alarm." Maggot replies as he grabs a nearby toad and shoves it into the ghoul's mouth to keep it quiet. "Do you know how hard is it to capture a Power Armor wearing enemy? Whoever did this was either very strong, or very crazy, or both. It can also be a natural alarm, if you hear the ghoul screaming then it means that someone is nearby."

"So, you think someone lives in here?" JC asks.

"No, not really. The Ghoul has screamed already, if the house was inhabited the people living there would have been alarmed already and we would be under fire. I saw no lights going or or movement happening in the house. It's empty."
>>
>>4764422

The raider then grabs the binoculars and observes the branches.

"Look, it seems that at once point there was some kind of rope ladder." He says pointing at a branch that indeed has what looks like one end of a ladder, the ropes that make it end abruptly and look charred. "It looks burned. It's hard to say what happened here, but my guess is that this place was attacked by raiders or perhaps some weird mutant critter, the people that lived here burned the ladder to stop them from entering. The enemy stood here waiting for them to come down and the inhabitants ultimately ended dying of hunger or thirst, and the people left."

It's clear why he knows so much, he's speaking from the experience, sometimes you forget that he's a bloodthirsty raider, a person that has killed for the sake of it. Using your Grappling Hook you bring Juniper, JC and Maggot to the tree house. The place indeed looks empty, you enter into what looks like a normal house, clearly post-war made but of a surprisingly good craft. You all spread and start to explore on your own . You pass by a kitchen, a bedroom, a small patio and suddenly JC calls for you.

"Diego, everybody, come here!" His robotic and lispy voice comes from the second floor. Quickly you ascend the old stairs, so old and rotten that you even break a few of the steps and hurriedly reach what looks like an open patio with dozens of chairs in there. Most chairs are occupied, on their seats there are well dressed mummified skeletons, at the end of the patio there are two other skeletal corpses, the two of them are dressed with bride wedding dresses.

"What happened here?" Juniper asks.

"I found a note. Well, wedding vows more like. Apparently this was a small church, it was built up here to allow the celebration of ceremonies with an open sky, whereas on the ground that's impossible. Apparently when the High Evo came to power they started sending tribals and raiders to the different settlements, asking them to join or die."

"Yeah, Saint mentioned something similar." You add.

"Indeed." The robot continues. "Apparently many people that lived nearby approached the temple in the search of protection, and they decided to celebrate one last ceremony, a wedding, and then they all ate a poisoned cake. Looks like nobody has approached this place since then."

"This is creepy." The raider says.

"This is admirable, they decided to die their own way instead of living under a tyrant. Perhaps they didn't die fighting, but they at least died doing what they believed it was right, in this case marrying the person you love."
>>
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>>4764423
++++++++
Everybody leaves the corpses alone, the parrots and insects have already desecrated them enough, and return to the house where the priest that manned this church lived. You all spread bed rolls over the floor and gather a fusion battery and a hot plate to cook some cram and make some tea, It's not a filling dinner, but its better than nothing.

"You aint gonna eat with us?" JC asks to Maggot as he sees that he doesn't gets his canned food onto the hot plate.

"Miss me with that shit. Canned food? That's too fancy for a wastelander scum like me. I've survived all my life eating whatever I found around. Look at these white fruits that I found in a branch near the toilet!"

He shows a plump white fruit that gives off a sweet and spicy aroma. The moment the raider bites into it lets a foul smelling yellow liquid sprays onto the floor and thousands of tiny spiders free and run everywhere. JC, despite not having a real stomach belches and makes a disgusted face, Juniper is completely shocked by the scene, you are too jaded to give a shit really.

"Oh fuck, it came with surprise!" Maggot yells as he opens the "fruit" and uses his hands to grab and eat as many spider newborns as possible.

You ignore his antics and continue eating dinner, Juniper doesn't touches her food anymore, so you help yourself into eating his rations as well. You are a pretty big man, you need to eat a lot to keep up.

"Yooo, look what I found, I was keeping this for dessert." Maggot then says as he shows you all a colorful mutant toad.

"Are you really gonna eat that?" JC asks, belching even more. Can robots really puke?

"What? No man, these are for lickin'" He replies as he lifts his mask and uses starts licking the toad. "Oh shit this is the good stuff fuck yes. Anyone want a taste?"

> Lick the toad.
> Ignore him and go to sleep.
> Other options, write in.
>>
>>4764427
> Ask him why he's licking the toad.
Wat it do.
> Go to sleep.
>>
>>4764427
> Lick the toad.
>>
>>4764427
Lol, just say no. Licking toads are not a good idea with cazaclaws roaming around.
>>
>>4764427
> Ask him why he's licking the toad.
> Go to sleep.

"Why.. why the fuck would I want to lick that toad?" You say, wondering and questioning hard as you witness Maggot fill his already nasty tongue with the toad's glowing slime like mucus.

"Makes you freak out and see all kinds of crazy shit."

"Licking toads are not a good idea with cazaclaws roaming around." JC then adds.

"No man it's all cool, it makes you pierce the veil and break the barriers. Most places of the wasteland aren't good to trip balls. Too many angry and confused spirits from the great war, but a temple like this one might be a cool place, the ghosts that are here might not be too angry."

"I thought you didn't believe in the afterlife." Juniper then says.

"I don't believe in anything. Believing is for nerds and fools. Hell, I don't even believe that the moon's real. Sometimes I don't even believe that I'm real. I might be a character in some lame story that a fat fuck writes for other losers in some mongolian basket weaving forum."
>>
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>>4764544

Everybody laughs at him and he simply shrugs and starts looking at the ceiling while he continues licking the toad. "Oh yeah, this is the good shit." He then whispers as he proceeds to rant and softly speak about nonsense like "The engine of creation" and things "Just working." The rest ignore him and continue with their dinner and then go to sleep.

It feels good to get out of the armor for a while, even resting on a cold and damp floor feels nice right now. It doesn't takes you long to fall asleep, and once more you have a dreamless night.

The next morning you wake up and to your surprise you are alone, Juniper, Maggot and JC are missing, close to you is a coffee brewing post bubbling with a steaming tar like liquid inside. You pour yourself a coffee and go out to search them out. You find them pretty quickly, they are on the outside, placed in a thick branch and looking down to the ground. The moment you too look down your heart skips a beat.

There's an absolutely massive horde of Spore Carriers walking across like a massive green tide. They are so numerous that their combined steps even make the entire treehouse shake lightly. Fortunately for you they are completely ignoring the van and walking around it, looks like the vehicle hasn't sustained any damage. Jun is the first one to notice your presence, she quickly brings one of her fingers to her mouth to indicate you to be quiet.

"It has been going for five minutes already. We don't know how long it will take until the completely pass." The pilot whispers to you. "Before they approached the parrots and most other fauna ran the hell away from here, they seem to know that the best course is simply running away."

> Wait until they leave. This might take hours, perhaps an entire day even, but you have enough food to last.
> See if there's anything around that could be used to create molotovs and other explosives. Take advantage of your tactical position and kill the horde. In the long run you'll be doing the island a favor.
> Other options write in.
>>
>>4764546
> Wait until they leave. This might take hours, perhaps an entire day even, but you have enough food to last.
I don't think starting a wildfire in the middle of a jungle and/or destroying the van is worth it. Let's sit down and let Roa take visual notes maybe, idk I'm not an AI.
>>
>>4764549
>idk I'm not an AI.
I'm not completely sure about that. You pretty much consistently reply to my updates fast as fuck. And are constantly changing your ID. It's kinda weird lmao.
>>
>>4764549
Agree with zxc who apparently may be an AI
>>
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Axsi, had we licked the toad would we have ended up going on a spirit quest with Maggot? Lmao
>>
>>4764675
> Axsi, had we licked the toad would we have ended up going on a spirit quest with Maggot? Lmao
Bet. While searching for encounter tables I found loads of stuff for fantasy and very little for post apocalyptic stuff. A lot of the fantasy stuff was great but couldnt be adapted. Licking the toad would have sent us on a little magical adventure we would have met the dragonborn
>>
>>4764697
Aw... would have been fun if we came out of it able to fus roh DAH our enemies
>>
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>>4764988
Yeah, that would have been awesome, but hard to explain. You get high on psychodelic mutant toads and awaken with superpowers? Nah, too OP.

I might add a Skyrim Based PA as a easter egg tho...
>>
>>4764546
> Wait until they leave. This might take hours, perhaps an entire day even, but you have enough food to last.

You hate the idea of waiting idle, every minute that you waste in this god forsaken jungle you feel more and more separated from your children. Who knows what kind of warped and terrible things might have done to them... perhaps you are already too late, perhaps they have already been butchered and devoured by some Super-Mutant cannibal. The thought of it makes you shudder and shakes you to the core, you are a jaded soul, your time in the wastes has left you scarred both outside and inside, you have learned to shrug off most things, but that... the sole idea of being too late terrifies you.

But there's nothing you can do. Creating molotovs might be viable but if you scorch the ground under your feet you might end causing a wildfire, one that would eventually engulf the same tree you are standing in, and probably also the van. And who knows, the fire might not even be enough to stop these monsters. It looks like the rest don't like the idea of waiting either, but there's nothing else you can do, so everybody returns to the house and sighs.

Maggot ends stripping down and walking into one of the roofs carrying a bucket full of toads to sunbathe and continue licking and tripping balls. JC and Juniper sit together and start playing cards, the robot once more tries to teach the pilot how to play caravan, but once more it seems like Juniper simply doesn't gets the gist of it. You simply rest on a couch and pass time as best as you can, you read some of the books that are around, take a bath in the surprisingly clean bathtub, inspect and maintain all of your weapons and armor and even try cooking something more complex than a can of heated cram and black coffee... but honestly it's all moot, nothing can distract you from the fact that your children are so close, yet so far apart. Everything looks boring and tedious now, how did you pass your time before becoming a child of the wastes? Back in San Francisco you were a city boy, a sheltered kid that never endured the dangers of the post nuclear world, one that had never taken a life nor needed to do whatever it took to survive...

Suddenly you notice it, there are no more vibrations. Quickly you head out and look to the ground, there are no more Spore Carriers, the green horde has moved on.
>>
>>4765401

"Break's over! Everybody get ready! We will depart in five!" You scream as you eagerly get back into your Power Armor and hurriedly jump from the house to the ground.

You land with a earth shattering impact and quickly run a few feet and then use your grappling hook to create a tethered chain from which the rest can rappel down. After a while they appear and at first they look confused, but then JC grabs the metallic wire with his robotic hands and screams "Hold onto me!" Maggot and Juniper jump and grab him by the wheel and the three quickly descend from the treehouse as they send bright sparks flying everywhere. They land quite clumsily but none of them suffer any damage.

Soon enough you are back on the road, Juniper's driving faster than usual, she has one hand on the steering wheel, the other in the gear stick, both are tightly gripping and constantly moving with darting speed. This island's geography is pretty mountainous and difficult to drive around, hell even before the war most of the island only had roads around the coastline, now that everything has been turned into a massive jungle and roads are all but nonexistant the mere act of driving must be a near impossible challenge.

Maggot constantly checks the map and from time to time gives directions, but its hard to say if he's being useful or if he's still hallucinating and tripping.

Suddenly Juniper presses the brake and loudly the entire vehicle screeches and slides across some slippery mud. The environment has changed wildly, it isn't a thick jungle anymore, it's a foul smelling swamp now. You remember seeing a swamp when you approached and recon'd the Fortress by plane. Good, you are getting closer and closer.

"What's wrong?" JC asks as he loads his weapons.

"The mud's too slippery, we need to put chains on the wheels, and we are also running low on fuel." The pilot replies clearly stressed. Everybody gets out and the suddenly become hit by the absolute stench of the area.

"Fuck, let's do this quick." Juniper says as he grabs the chains from the rear of the van.
>>
>>4765405

You are lacking proper tools and equipment but fortunately JC and you are strong enough to lift the heavy van just enough to allow Juniper and Maggot to install the chains over the wheels. It takes only a few minutes but it leaves you absolutely exhausted. Once the wheels have been changed Juniper proceeds with the refuelling while JC opens the hood and starts checking the engine.

"Fuck, this is bad." The robot says after inspecting the running motor. "The wiring that we have is half broken, without it the van will cease to function. Diego, Maggot, do you think you can go and search around? We really need that copper wiring, if not... shit I think I could use some of mine."

You nod and load your weapon. Honestly you don't like the idea of travelling with the raider but he has proved to be a good spotter and pretty perceptive all around.

"Alright, let's move." You tell him as you turn from the van and head deeper into the muddy swamp.

"Right behind ya!" The raider replies.

You thought that the jungle was terrible, but the swamp is even worse. The floor is muddy and makes travelling a long and exhausting task, the heat is unbearable and there's a foul smelling musk that emanates from the ground itself. It looks like this place is also home to several cannibal and psychotic tribes and raider gangs, as you walk you pass by a long and rusty chain tied to a thick and rotting branch, the chain ends in a shackle and a skeletal arm, it looks like it was gnawed, the rest of the skeleton is missing. You have to be careful of where you step, the ground looks the same everywhere but its impossible to say if your next step will be on semi-solid ground or in a liquid well that will quickly swallow you whole. As you carefully advance you see the bones of a horse with several pure white hair around, hugging it there's the skeleton of a small child, they are a grim reminder of what can happen to you if you aren't careful enough.

"Hey, stop, I think I see something." Maggot suddenly says as he uses binoculars to look in front of you.

"What do you see?" You ask in a whisper.

"I think it's a tank, if there's wire around it has to be there. It looks like its a mile away."

You nod and keep walking, in sombre silence. Now that the vegetation isn't as thick you can see the sky above you, its starting to get dark, nightfall will arrive soon. If that happens returning back to the van without a flashlight will be nearly impossible. You have the light of your Pip-Boy to guide you, but what truly worries you is having your light betraying your position. You are extremely close to the fortress, you can't fail now.
>>
>>4765408

As you continue you pass by another treehouse. This one is inhabited, you can see several faces quietly observing you from behind the dirty windows, they look decrepit and old and don't move a single inch. Your geiger counter starts cracking and making noise, this place is heavily radioactive. You give one last look at the people spying on you, there's something wrong with their faces, they give you the creeps and chill you to the spine.

"Holy shit, lets get out of here." The raider whispers as he slowly turns and looks around him. You follow where he is looking and then see it, among the trees that are surrounding you there are corpses hanging by their feet, all of the skin has been removed from their bodies and a few discarded items litter the ground beneath them. They weren't killed for their flesh, they weren't killed for their items, they were tortured and killed just because. In the trees there are also dozens of colorful mutant parrots, some have two heads, all have bald spots on their bodies, most of the time they are quiet but every now and then one screeches and imitates the sound of human screams and voices of people calling for help. Their beaks are bloody, they have clearly feasted on the hanged corpses.

Suddenly the sound of a door opening catches your attention, you look back at the treehouse and see a heavily mutated man with a double barrelled shotgun aiming at your direction.

"Fuck run!" You scream as the ground close to your feet suddenly explodes.

Together you make an escape and start running as more shotgun blasts explode behind you. After a while the shooting ends, it looks like you are out of that people's territory, and thus safe now, well, as safe as one can be in an irradiated swamp.

"Fucking hell. My genetic code is an absolute mess but those incesutous mutant swamp folk make me look like a fucking superman. Have you seen them?" Maggot says.
>>
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>>4765417

"Why... why do you think that they killed people?"

"Oh, jealousy no doubt. Imagine knowing that there's something wrong with you, something that you can't fix or hide. Knowing that people hate you because of how you look and nothing will ever stop them from hating you. And then you have dozens of people every year that trespass your territory and perhaps even harass you and your family or steal your hard earned food. These corpses were there as a warning, one that we ignored."

"Jesus."

The sky starts getting darker and darker. Together you continue walking and suddenly see an eerie glow in a side of the path, your geiger counter cracks to life and starts beeping like wild. Maggot grabs the binoculars and looks at the direction of the glow and then starts laughing.

"Oh my fucking god I cannot believe it." He says as he proceeds to walks towards the source of the radioactive light. "You gotta come and see this!"

You follow him back and to your surprise see a dump of nuclear waste, barrels filled with a green goo that glows with a deadly invisible fire. But that's not the odd part about it, dumps like this one can be found in several parts of the wastes, and they are specially prominent underwater. What truly makes this dump special is a ghoul. In the center of the dump and surrounded by nuclear waste lies the fattest ghoul that you have ever seen, at least 600 lbs fat and incapable of moving. There's a sign next to it that says "Shoot the Fat Ghoul, brings good luck!". Judging by the scars this poor creature has been shoot thousands of times, there are uncountable brass cases and empty fusion cells littering the floor. If it weren't so fat and surrounded by the nuclear waste this creature would have died several times already.

> Shoot the ghoul, you need all the good luck you can get.
> Take mercy on the creature. Shooting it on the head might not be an effective method. Approach it and use your thermal cleavers to decapitate it. You might end getting pretty irradiated, but nobody deserves such a fate.
> Ignore it, the Tank with the wiring is not far away, go straight for it.
> Other options, write in.
>>
>>4765423
> Ignore it, the Tank with the wiring is not far away, go straight for it.
> Watch out for traps.

This all quickly got from 0 to 100.
Pretty sure we don't want to show Roa we are dumb enough to believe in luck from tormenting random living things, but mercy killing that ghoul is not worth the rads and wasting what little time we have before the dark.
>>
Oh shit, I forgot to add that Roa observes the Spore Carriers and analyses them. Fuck, I will include something about it in the next update.
>>
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>>4765437
Don't worry about it. Roa could've been observing those things without us noticing, especially since Diego got out of the Power Armor at the time. Could turn up if we ever meet with similar creatures again.
>>
>>4765435
>This all quickly got from 0 to 100.
And it will get even worse.

The closer we get to the Fortress the more violent things will get. The Blood Games will have several victors, those who are deemed worthy will become Super-Mutants. Whereas the Fortress is considered sacred ground and no blood can be spilled the same can't be said from its surroundings. Champions actively try killing other champions before they reach the Fortress to get rid of the competition. And since the area around the fortress isn't a jungle anymore there isn't any vegetation to give you cover and hiding. The swamps are deadlier than the jungle, not because of deadly fauna or flora, but due to the champions that will savagely target other participants and anyone that gets in their way really.
>>
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Sorry friends, but I'll have to end it for today, it's getting late for me.

As usual feel free to write questions about the quest, its lore or add critiques and suggestions and tomorrow morning if possible I'll reply to everything!

Thanks for playing!
>>
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>>4765477
Hey, gimme my reward.
>>
>>4765423
> Take mercy on the creature. Shooting it on the head might not be an effective method. Approach it and use your thermal cleavers to decapitate it. You might end getting pretty irradiated, but nobody deserves such a fate.
We keep skipping Ax's hooks, its not fair
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>>4765679
Awesome! Your reward is a Nuka-token. If you use it you will get one automatic nat100 in any dice roll that you want!

It can be used only once so spend it wisely!
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>>4765682
+1 let's put the poor fucker out of his misery
>>
I also would like to end thd ghoul, but there's a bunch of ways executing him could fuck us over and we should avoid getting fucked over in this place. Like getting misfortune instead, someone watching &/ guarding, ghoul being aggressive, we might get hit by a geyser of radioactive blood and it could take longer than we think.
>>
>>4766125

Actually, is this a feral ghoul or a sentient ghoul?
>>
>>4766195
That will be answered in the next update, I'm writing it right now.
>>
oh dear
>>
>>4766196
>>4766197

Yeah, maybe we just need to throw him some SlimFast and call it a day if he's not feral.
>>
>>4765423
> Take mercy on the creature. Shooting it on the head might not be an effective method. Approach it and use your thermal cleavers to decapitate it. You might end getting pretty irradiated, but nobody deserves such a fate.

"Roa, I'm about to enter a high radioactive zone, do you have any rad-x for me?"

"Injecting Rad-X.

Your geiger counter continues loudly cracking, but your HUD indicates that you aren't really absorbing a lot of harmful rads. You will be able to stay here for some time before the rads start truly affecting you. The Rad-X along with the natural defences provided by your Power-Armor would make this otherwise unbearably radioactive hotspot into someplace more or less liveable.

The ghoul looks like it once was a tourist of some sort, you can see what looks like a tattered hawaiian shirt and swimming trunks on his damaged and bloated body. When you approach it he weakly tilts his head, his face is covered in scar tissue and glowing tumours, his eyes are bleeding a neon green blood, there are no teeth on his mouth, surely all of them had been knocked out decades ago. His entire body is a bloated mass of scars, glowing veins, weeping sores and open wounds. His legs have been amputated, violently and crudely destroyed at the knee level, it looks like this was the result of a mine blast.

"Nobody deserves living like this." You whisper as you grab your two Thermal Cleavers and see the blades quickly changing from dull grey to a glowing red hot and becoming superheated.

You close your eyes and gulp, then raise your arm and with all of your might go straight for the neck. A regular person would have been immediately decapitated, but this creature is far from average. To your surprise the blade gets stuck in the neck, it's ghouilification has turned his skin and hard and leather like. The superheated blade starts to burn and from the wound smoke starts to emerge, and then flames.

The ghoul slowly tilts his head towards you, blood spraying with each one of his pained movements. With another grunt you grab his head with one hand and use the other to finish the job. Slow and steadily the blade continues digging and digging until ultimately the head comes of among a spray of blood, smoke and flames. "T-thank...youuuu." the decapitated head then says in a growling yet not threatening voice.
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>>4766268

You grimace and throw the head to the ground. You are too jaded to be affected by this, but it is an horrific experience nonetheless. You look at yourself and see your armor covered in a mixture of ash, green blood, mud and glowing sap, you "clean" yourself with more mud and slowly return to Maggot.

"Hey, that was cool of you." The raider says as he pats you in the shoulder. "You are a good man. It's nice to be surrounded by non psychotic folk for a change."

"There's always time to leave this lifestyle you know?"

"Perhaps. I dunno. Maybe... I think that I was expecting to die on this journey you know? I have raided settlements in every island, Hawaii was my last stop. I knew that it would be deadly, but I kinda welcomed it. I would have been a good ending to my life. Perhaps seeing the blood games might be the only thing that truly makes me sick to the stomach and truly makes me change my ways..."

You nod and gently pat him on the back before continuing with your journey. Your objective is not very far away now. Quickly you reach the half sunken vehicle and see what it is, an old tank, there are bullet impacts against its hull, from its opened turret a thick tree emerges, around it there are several graves, in one of the branches an skeletal soldier hangs. Scenes like this are far too common in the wastes, it's hard to imagine what happened here, but its easy to know that these people suffered greatly.

Since Maggot is the smallest of the two and his hands are petite he's the one that opens the engine hood and proceeds plucking the wires. You stay outside keeping an eye for enemies. Fortunately no one appears, you can see birds flying and snakes slithering in the distance, but no Spore Carriers, Cazaclaws or any other mutant abomination of the wastes.

"Any luck?" You ask after a while.

"Mmh!" The raider replies as he pulls his arm from the tank's guts and plucks out a massive bundle of colorful wires.

"So, I was thinking." He then says. You think we should do a detour and avoid the hillbilly's house or take advantage of the dark and go all in and blast those fools? I got some molotovs and nades, you got your burning laser pistol. I think we can take 'em out."

> Kill the fuckers. They attacked you first.
> Surround the treehouse and avoid them.
> Other options, write in.
>>
>>4766270
Is there any more trees nearby? I think we could set one on fire to keep attention away from us and the van.
>>
>>4766286
Sorry, I deleted the post and added it again because I forgot to add the picture of the Thermal Cleavers and wanted to fix a couple of typos.

The swamp is kinda like this picture. There are trees yes, but it's mostly dead looking trees without leaves. Creating a fire could be a working and effective tactic.
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>>4766290
Nice pic, thanks.

>>4766285
> Surround the treehouse and avoid them.
He said they're just ugly sad mutants.
> Try to identify the tank.
Any info on who it belonged to.
> Tell Maggot to set the tank tree on fire to divert attention away from us.

And let's get outta there.
>>
>>4766294
+1
>>
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>>4766285
> Try to identify the tank.
> Tell Maggot to set the tank tree on fire to divert attention away from us.
> Surround the treehouse and avoid them.

"Roa, anything you can tell me about the tank, is there any component or piece that we could use?"

"Scanning... It's a M-245 Patton, more specifically the Tor Frick Pattern. There are still two 140 mm projectiles in the interior, ready to be shot. The tree blocks access to the interior, they are impossible to retrieve. The rest of the valuable components, item and resources have been destroyed or damaged and rusted beyond use, or are inside of the vehicle and impossible to retrieve."

"A shame." You say patting the mighty yet useless vehicle. "Maggot, torch it down."

"What? Why?" The raider asks as he lights a molotov. Despite questioning your orders he follows them blindly. In another life, had he been born in Ohana he would have made an excellent soldier.

"The fire will distract the mutants of the treehouse. With them distracted we will be able to safely cross their territory."

"Awesome." He then says as he chucks a vodka bottle full of a mixture made of oil, alcoholic spirits and fuel.

The tree immediately sets ablaze and starts burning wildly. "Huh, you might want to run thought." Maggot the says as he slowly walks back.

"What, why?"

"The tank was full of fuel, apparently a leak in the main deposit, there was also a lot of ammunition and grenades inside, i think that the hanged dude was the only one that survived the nuclear fallout, perhaps he became a ghoul, he stored the ammo and weapons of his companions inside of the tank to keep them safe from raiders I think."

The flames quickly descend onto the interior of the tank and shortly after a cacophony bullets exploding and ricocheting inside of the tank erupts. It won't be long until the vehicle explodes.

"Fuck!" You scream as you grab the raider by the neck and put him on your back. Together you run as fast as your powerful legs allow, the explosions behind you become louder and louder and then bullets start flying in every direction, some whistling and darting only inches away from you.
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>>4766674

You expected a quiet and stealthy return but instead what you got is the mother of all parties. Before you can notice it you are back at the treehouse, the entire family is out, perched in the rooftops and looking at the burning tree. Being stealthy isn't an option anymore, despite being camouflaged your running betrays your position, they clearly have noticed your approach.

"Fuck you you mutant inbreeds!!" Maggot screams as he grabs his submachine gun and wildly opens fire over the house. Several of the mutated swampfolk try to return the fire with shotguns and crude pipe weapons but their attack doesn't lasts very long. Suddenly the tank explodes, the explosion turns the main turret, the flames burns the two lodged shells and once they reach a critical point they are fired. *BOOM! The entire treehouse is shelled down and explodes into a million pieces, fragments of wood, glass, metal and gore rain all around you.

Somehow you manage to run all the way back to the van.

"Hey! Are you ok?" Asks Juniper as he cleans some blood from her body. Looks like they were attacked by a few Spore Carriers but managed to dispatch them without your aid.

"Yeah..." You say huffing and almost out of breath. Maggot jumps out from your back and cracks his knuckles.

"It was easy." He then says as he handles the wire to JC.

"We heard an explosion." The robot replies after grabbing the copper wiring.

"Yeah... you know, typical wasteland stuff." You reply with a chuckle.

You sit down on the floor and rest while JC finishes fixing the van. Once everything is ready you all get in and continue the journey.

"We should be close right?" You then ask.

"Yeah, we should arrive tonight." Juniper replies.

For a while the journey continues without any problem or anything remarkable but then suddenly a scream echoes from above, "FOR KUNUIAKEA!!" as soon as the scream ends a massive thud is heard and the ceiling caves in. From above an axe pierces the van's roof and once the chassis is breached a pair of muscular hands start ripping open a hole. A massively muscular giant man stands on top of the van, his entire self screams murder. "YOU CALL YOURSELVES CHAMPIONS? YOU COME FOR THE GAMES? YOU ARE COWARDS! YOU TRAVEL IN A CHARIOT INSTEAD OF WALKING THE LAND! YOU ARE A DISGRACE!" He screams, foam coming out of his mouth.

> Order Juniper to stop the van. Luckily this will launch him onto the floor.
> Order Juniper to keep on driving. Jump on top of the van and fight him there.
> Order everybody to open fire!
> Other options, write in.
>>
>>4766676
>> Order Juniper to stop the van. Luckily this will launch him onto the floor.
oh wow
>>
>>4766683
Hey you are the guy that found the easter egg! Congratulations. I literally added it a couple of days ago. I thought it would take longer to be found.
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>>4766764
Oh yeah, I'm the one guy who checks the docs. I've been waiting forever for the last page to have something useful.
I'll be sure spend the token wisely.
>>
>>4766676
> Order Juniper to stop the van. Luckily this will launch him onto the floor.
I see he's half-naked. How about we test the durability of his ribcage?

>>4766777
Thank you for finding the token! We might need it where we're headed.
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>>4766676
> Order Juniper to stop the van. Luckily this will launch him onto the floor.

"Stop the van!" You scream.

The vehicle suddenly stops as your driver presses the brake with both feet. Despite being driving over slippery mud the deceleration is sudden enough to send the barbarian raider flying in front of you. He clumsily falls and rolls over the ground before sinking his heavy axe on the ground and stopping on his tracks.

He's not a mere human, he's almost as big as you are, his muscles are massive and he looks like he could easily rip off someone's spine with his bare hands. Unlike you he's practically naked, his body is covered in some loincloth and decorated with colorful feathers and the bones of his victims.

With a scream he stands up and lifts his axe, on his other hand he wields a dagger made of green/blue crystal. The impact and the fall would have killed any normal person, or at least it would have shattered several of his bones. He seems to be fine, barely bruised at all, only even more angered if anything.

"COWARDS! YOU AREN'T WORTHY OF STEPPING ON THIS HOLY GROUND!"

> Floor it. Run over him.
> Get down of the car and fight him. Have the rest continue without you.
> Order everyone to get down, fight him together.
> Other options, write in.
>>
>>4766848
>> Get down of the car and fight him. Have the rest continue without you.
Ok, violence it is.
>>
>>4766848
> Get down of the car and fight him. Have the rest continue without you.
> Fire the Spanish Navy Cannon at him as soon as we're out

Let's see him try to axe this.
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>>4766868
+1 this. Cannon time!
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>>4766848
> Get down of the car and fight him. Have the rest continue without you.
> Fire the Spanish Navy Cannon at him as soon as we're out

"Alright." You say, as you grab your massive navy cannon that you found on a shipwrecked ship in an underwater cavern. "I'm gonna head out."

"Wait!" JC intervenes. "Alone?"

"Yeah. Continue driving for five minutes and then stop. If I'm not back in thirty minutes then it means that I'm dead. Since this is my mission, well, feel free to go back to Tomorrowland. If I die, Juniper I want you to keep my plane, JC, I want you to go back to the Worker's Nest, the mother of my children is there, take care of her... Maggot, the only thing I have for you is advice, don't be a jackass, nobody likes jackasses."

This is not their war, soon it might be, but right now this is your responsibility. You are pretty confident thought, not only you have a Power Armor, but also thanks to the Brotherhood your naval cannon has been modified to be able to shoot several times without reloading. Even if the barbarian manages to dodge one or two of your shoots ultimately you will end shooting him down, along with a great chunk of the swamp, but you don't really care about this putrid and smelling place, so who gives a shit if you shoot down several trees.

Once you are ready you open the rear door and jump out. The van immediately starts driving and steering away from the barbarian.

"YOU AND I? VERY WELL, SO BE IT METAL MAN!" He grunts as he spits on the ground. "I'LL OPEN YOU LIKE A CAN OF SARDINES AND EAT YOUR GUTS... LIKE SARDINES!"

You don't even flinch at his lame attempts at intimidation and simply raise your cannon and proceed to open fire indiscriminately. *BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Smoke fills the battleground and the moment you stop firing and the smoke clears you find a floor full of craters, broken trees and blood. You walk towards the area where the raider once stood and to your surprise find that the Barbarian is still alive, if only barely. He's missing all limbs, blood violent geysers and splatters from here his arms and legs once stood.

"This is no warrior's death..." He gasps, blood coming out of his mouth. "F-finish me, champion."

> Leave him be. Don't grant him his wish.
> You showed mercy to the Ghoul, do the same here.
> Use your Thermal Cleavers to cauterise his wounds and one of your Super-Stimpaks to keep him alive. Then interrogate him. Who knows, he might even survive this.
> Other options, write in.
>>
>>4766972
> You showed mercy to the Ghoul, do the same here.

Not much of a life with arms and legs blown off. Let's finish him,loot the body, reload our cannon, and jog back to the van.
>>
>>4766972
> You showed mercy to the Ghoul, do the same here.
then
> Check if the dagger and axe are still around.
Maggot might find use for either of them.

What just happened.
Maybe we should try to conserve ammo if we have this much firepower.
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>>4767002
For real. I almost felt bad. Almost.
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>>4766972
> You showed mercy to the Ghoul, do the same here.
> Check if the dagger and axe are still around.

You walk towards the soon to be corpse and with a swift motion stomp on his head and turn his skull into dust. The execution is so extreme that his blood and gray matter cover up to your knees. A warrior to the end you find what's left of his hands and arms still tightly clutching his weapons. You stop to inspect the loot that he left behind and see that the dagger is made of glass, a strange green looking glass.

"Roa, analyse." You whisper.

"Analysing... Analysis complete. Steel handle, leather grip, Blade made of uranium glass, the glass was formed naturally after a nuclear bomb detonated on sand. 97% of possibility of being from a detonation that happened on this island. It is mildly radioactive, thanks to your Power-Armor the radiation won't affect you, people that are hurt by it will feel it thought."

You nod and sheathe the knife, it might be useful in the future. On the other hand you find a crude axe made from poorly smelted and crafted metal, despite being low quality it is incredibly sharp, the massive breach in the van's roof is proof of it. Unfortunately the handle has broken, perhaps you can weld it to the Naval Cannon to act as a bayonet of some kind, and if that's not possible, well, you can sell it for scrap.

Quickly you run back to the van and to your surprise find them sooner than expected. You reach a wooden wall and see the van is in front of a great open gate. On each side of the gate there is a giant Super-Mutant, bigger than anyone that you have ever seen, their bodies are covered in armor and on their hands they have miniguns.

"Hey!" JC waves you. "We aren't allowed to enter with the van. We have to go on foot. Apparently this place is called the Boneyard? We don't know much, the guards aren't really talkative."

Unlike California's mutants these ones have reddish skin, and for some reason the few areas of their bodies that are naked and exposed are constantly steaming and sweating.

This is it, this is it.

>Roll 1d100!
>>
Rolled 85 (1d100)

>>4767125
>>
Forgot to say. Its best of 3 as always. So two more rolls please!
>>
Rolled 70 (1d100)

>>4767125
>>
Rolled 48 (1d100)

>>4767125
>>
Awesome rolls! Believe it or not you have skipped a whole deal of trouble.
>>
>>4767125

In the distance you see several people coming out of the swamp as well, it looks like this is the only entrance to the Fortress. The people that come are all either bloodied, limping or have a thousand yard stare on their faces, the jungle and the swamp leave no rock unturned, no soul unstained. Most appear to be warriors of some kind, some appear to be tribals, others look like raiders or pirates and a very few ones seem to be wealthy merchants that are surrounded by aggressive looking bodyguards.

"It's aright., it did the job." You say patting the side of the van. "We will continue on foot."

You all group together and proceed to the gate but just as you are about to cross the two Super-mutant guards move and get in your way.

"No helmets." One of them says with a voice that sounds like two rocks grinding against each other. You look at them stunned and then notice that their patience runs thin, only a couple of seconds after their indication one of them starts spinning his minigun. You look behind you and see that indeed everybody is removing their helmets and masks, there is no anonymity in this place. Juniper and Maggot look at you, as if seeking your approval, you nod and they immediately proceed to remove their headgear.

Juniper's face is covered in grimy bandages, some of which look bloodstained, there's still not knowing if its a he or a she. Maggot's face is surprisingly unmutated, he's far from being handsome, he's quite average looking in fact, but you were expecting something much worse. Once they are done you too remove your helmet.

The two guards look at each other and one of them grabs a book and starts flipping across the pages.

"You are supposed to be dead, Diego Buenaventura." The guard then says as he shows a page of the book, one that has a picture of your face with a red stencil cross over it. The picture is old and grainy, made hastily by someone lacking in skill, but there's something that you notice from it, it's from before your time in Hawaii, from the time when you were still a scrawny little guy. Next to the picture its your name and several measurements and other notes about you, unfortunately you don't have time to read any of it, as the guard quickly closes the book.

"Wait here." He then says as he goes crosses the gate and enters into a small open tent and proceeds to use and peak to a ham-radio. Despite being massive Super-Mutants they seem to be pretty delicate if needed, most regular muties would have crushed the radio's communicator by accident.

"Kunuiakea wishes to meet you and your companions. A chariot is being delivered." The guard then says as he returns.
>>
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>>4767754

After saying this the guard goes back to his duty and continues controlling the gate, you look at your companions and they all seem to be confused and afraid in equal measure. After a while the "Chariot" comes to the gate, its made from a repurposed car that has been stripped of the engine and the roof and is being carried by four highly mutated horses.

"Proceed." The guard then says. You want to ask questions but know that they will never answer. There's also no way that you can win them in a fight, until now you have always been the strongest individual in a fight, but these two are at least a head taller than you are, and their weapons could easily shred you to pieces in matter of seconds. You could always turn around and leave, but perhaps it is too late for that as well, somehow Kunuiakea, the leader of the High Evolutionary knows of you, and for some reason wants a meeting. Your only option is to go ahead.

You cross the gate and the rest follow shortly afterwards, one by one you sit down on the "chariot" and the horses immediately start to gallop and trot. You had never seen horses before, only in books, comics and old movies, honestly you might have preferred to never have seen horses, this creature is absolutely horrendous, its body is full of cancerous sores, it has several extra limbs and its skin looks leathery and damaged.

"What the fuck was that?" Finally asks Maggot, breaking the silence.

"No fucking idea. But it doesn't looks good." You reply.

The chariot advances across a small settlement, it looks like this place isn't a real town, but a temporal area for the travellers to stay on and sleep, the place is full of tents and with the exception of the wooden walls and the Fortress in the centre there isn't any real permanent structure. In the settlement dozens of people scream and fight, some are selling overpriced wares and vital necessities like clean water, food and medicines. There's an absolute lack of any kind of sewage or sanitation, rotting trash, decomposing corpses and feces of all kinds litter everywhere.
>>
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>>4767758

"What is this place?" Juniper asks horrified by the sight of the violent tent city.

"The Boneyard. I've heard of it." Maggot replies. "It's a ring that surrounds the Fortress. Once the games begin the gates are closed and nobody is allowed to enter or leave. Aspiring champions and people that come to see the games settle here and wait between the events, some merchants try their luck and make it all the way here to sell their stuff at insulting prices, but its worth it, there isn't any kind of on poisonous or non radioactive source of food or water around here so they end making loads of profits, high risk high reward stuff you know? I was asked to work as bodyguards for merchants like these a few times, always rejected the offer, I'm a free spirit, I don't like having a boss. Anyway, since people aren't allowed to enter or leave at some point the food that the people brought will start to run low, and then its when the real fun begins. Violence will ramp up, people will start to steal and shoot each other for scraps. The High Evolutionary incite this, they are all about survival of the fittest after all, that's why no vehicles and no helmets are permitted, you are only allowed to bring what you can carry, and you can't hide your face so you can't anonymously steal food. There have even been years with no survivors, those are rumours thought. The name comes because after the blood games are over the only thing that remains here are the bones of the people that died."

Shortly after you reach the Fortress. Just like Saint said this place was once a massive prison, there are thick concrete walls that have been painted with blood and now depict the history of the High Evolutionary, on top of the walls there is rusty barbed wire full of decomposing corpses and even higher countless pikes with heads impaled on them, some of which look pretty fresh. On top and around of what once was the prison a massive wooden structure has been built, one that can easily house thousands of people. As you cross the metal gates you suddenly enter into Super-Mutant territory, there are no humans here, only mutants. They all observe you from the balconies and the catwalks. They are all naked, their bodies are absolutely muscular, their skins are red and steaming, some oddly enough have strange mutations, talons instead of hands, two heads instead of one, a functioning tail...
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>>4767765

Suddenly the chariot stops. All of the Super Mutants raise their blades and weapons to the sky and scream all at once. "HAIL! HAIL! HAIL! LONG LIVE THE FIRST OF MANY! LONG LIVE THE GREAT ONI LORD KUNUIAKEA! GOD AMONG GODS!"

From behind a closed double door then emerges the biggest person that you have ever seen, hell, you aren't even sure if it should be called person, it's a monster, an abomination, an affront to god itself. Standing at twenty feet tall is the biggest Super-Mutant that this wasteland has ever seen. Kunuiakea is dressed in ceremonial armor made from gold and jade, on his left hand there's a giant tower shield, one easily as big as he his, on his right hand there's a serrated sword made from wood, giant mutant shark teeth and obsidian shards.

"Welcome back home, my child." He says with a surprisingly gentle yet intimidating sounding voice, his words sound ethereal, crystalline, almost echoing. "I didn't expected you here. I was informed of your death. But alas it seems like destiny wanted for us to meet." He's speaking only to you, he doesn't even address the rest, to him they are mere insects completely below him.

"I'm not your son." You reply kind of angrily.

"Heh, straight to the point. I like it, that's a warrior's attitude. Please get down of the chariot and walk with me, you have many questions and I have much to show you. Worry not for your...subordinates, the Fortress is sacred ground, they won't be harmed as long as they are here, the same can't be said for the Boneyard."

> Write your questions.
>>
>>4767768
Well, the obvious one would be
>How much do you know about me?
Should we ask about our children? He migth hold them over our head but he probably will do so even if we don't ask, because plot.
>>
>>4767768
>What's with the mesoamerican attire?
>How is he so massive
(assuming he is much bigger than other muties)
>Why are we even speaking?
>Who is he exactly?

>>4767863
I thought Hevo don't know thosevare our kids since they were kidnapped randomly and not because of us and also long after we were deemed dead, it seems.
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>>4768553
>What's with the mesoamerican attire?
I'll reply this one out of Character. I can't draw for shit, so I pick up pictures from the internet. The Hevo are a mixture of Mesoamerican, Mongolian, Native Hawaiian and Japanese aesthetics. I just thought that this picture was cool. Pic related is more or less how they dress.

>I thought Hevo don't know thosevare our kids since they were kidnapped randomly and not because of us and also long after we were deemed dead, it seems.
You are right. They don't know these children are ours.
>>
>>4767768
Let's not talk about our kids just yet. They might've just been picked up coincidentally in a regular raid.

I'd really just ask what the hell is going on. How does he know who we are?
>>
>>4767768

"Alright." You say as you get down of the vehicle and approach him. You are used to being the tallest person around, but this monster towers over you. "What the hell is going on? How do you know so much about me?"

Kunuiakea snorts and nods, the turns around and starts walking deeper into the Fortress.

"Happening right now? The preparations for the annual Blood games. And about you? I know nothing about you, you are a stranger to my eyes, I knew about you, about the little man from California."

"That answers nothing."

"I brought you here, my child. I brought you along with other people from California. I've brought people from different parts of the world; Mexico, South America, Japan, China... they are part of a greater scheme. I was informed that the plane that brought you was downed by the Enclave, they have been a thorn by my side for quite a while already. How did you survive?"

"I... the plane was destroyed, I fell into the ocean and a fishing tugboat rescued me."

"That must have triggered a pretty intense fight or flight reaction. Good." He then says.

Together you walk and descend a set of stairs, the stairs were designed to be used by regular humans, so he has to be constantly crouching to advance. You dislike walking with him, and going underground makes you kind of anxious, makes you feel trapped, but nonetheless you continue going deeper and deeper, you need the answers.

"What do you know about the High Evolutionary? About FEV?"

"Well, not a lot." You remember that the Brotherhood gave you some sparse information, but they didn't have much to tell you.
>>
>>4768719

"The Forced Evolutionary Virus was a biological miracle created before the Great War, it was designed to create perfect soldiers, but its makers ended discovering that it could also do a myriad of other things. Unfortunately the Virus was designed to work with unmutated human DNA, after the nukes the whole planet's genetic code was irradiated and twisted. What once made immortal demigods now suddenly created mutant abominations, before the nukes the virus had more than 80% of success, after them the success rate descended to less than 2%. Vault dwellers have a higher chance of success, as their DNA hasn't been as exposed to the world's radiation. As far as I know there are five vaults in Hawaii, the one in Maui that opened and become the city of Port Kalewa, their citizens aren't genetically pure anymore, another was built underwater, this one we explored and found unsuitable, the Vault was purposefully sabotaged to be slowly filled with water, the dwellers were forced to alter their DNA to survive and were turned into the mutants known as Guillfolk. There is another Vault in Lana'i, but that one didn't finish construction, and the other two haven't been discovered yet. To my satisfaction I quickly learned that civilised areas could be a good substitute for Vaults, safe cities lead to better and healthier citizens, people with a far more stable genetic code and much less rads than the average wastelander, most citizens of Port Kalewa, Honolulu or Fallen Horizon have around 30% of successfully evolving."

"Is that why do you kidnap people? Is that why did you brought me here?" You ask.

"Yes, as I said people from civilised areas, like San Francisco, have a better chance at evolving. Just like the merchants that risked their lives to come to the Boneyard and peddle their wares this was a very high risk high reward action. But it looks like it was worth it."

The stairs then end, at the end of them there is a guarded door, the two mutant guards nod and stay out of the way. You all enter inside and reach a massive derelict laboratory.
>>
>>4768720

"This Fortress was a prison before the Great War, one designed to imprison people who were suspected of being communist allies, anti-american individuals or chinese spies. Hawaii's biggest demographic were asians, but when the war started to get hot dozens of soldiers from the mainland came, most of them being white or latino. These soldiers were racist, they had devoured too much propaganda about the "yellow demons", and that combined Hawaii being the territory that was physically closest to mainland china lead to an exacerbated sense of paranoia among them. If you were Asian you were always suspected of being a spy, no matter how patriotic you could be. I was a history teacher in the Chaminade University of Honolulu, one day a group of soldiers came knocking to my door, they accused me of being a spy and forcefully took me. I had no trial, I was guilty until proven innocent. This was no mere prison thought, here they tested and experimented on FEV, dozens of prisoners died, with each new death the formula was refined more and more. I too was experimented upon, they injected the FEV in me, but then just as the green liquid entered my bloodstream the nukes fell. My transformation started happening just as this entire laboratory shook and the scientists ran for their lives. With my newfound strength I easily broke my binds and one by one I killed every single guard and scientists that was here. I freed everyone here, a few ran away into the wastes, most stood by my side. Time passed and I kept evolving, becoming bigger, becoming stronger. Soon I understood it, the age of men is over, their hubris killed them, this will now be the age of the super-mutants. We are immortal, immune to diseases and radiation and we are superior in every aspect. We will not only survive in this wasteland, we will thrive on it. Unfortunately with the death of the scientists the formula to create more perfect Super-Mutants like me was lost. We have been ever since testing and perfecting the virus. We are so close."

"Is that why you are so massive?"

"Yes. I am a perfect creation. The pinnacle of human evolution. My children aren't perfect, but they are still superior in every aspect to the average wastelander."

Inside of the laboratory there are several vats full of green liquid, on top of them there are dozens of highly mutated corpses hanged upside down and being drained of their blood. They are still alive, breathing weakly.

"What...what is this place?" You ask horrified.

"We call it the Garden of Flesh. Not everybody evolves correctly, some become mutant abominations. Once the virus integrates with your DNA your body starts to naturally create it. We drain them to extract the virus of their blood, if we didn't do this we would have run out of FEV long ago. When they die they become food us. Nothing is wasted here."

Juniper belches and almost pukes, you can see that even Maggot and JC who are normally pretty stoic feel sick to the core.
>>
>>4768721

"I saw some of the Super-Mutants with strange mutations on them." You then say.

"We prefer to call ourselves Onis. And yes, I know what you meant. There's a quirk on this strain of the virus. It damages their DNA, makes it fall apart. My children are genovores, they need to eat flesh or else they will suffer sudden cellular death. From the flesh that they eat they acquire DNA that they use to repair their own, but sometimes a little bit of that DNA sticks too much. Eat too many dogs and you will start to develop a snout and a tail, eat too many brahmin and you might develop a second head, and so on. Human flesh is the best for us, the one that keeps us the most stable. Do you know why we incite a culture of violence among the tribals of the island? Why are they constantly killing each other?"

"N-no." You say, horrified.

"Having an unmutated DNA isn't enough to evolve. You also need to have fire in your heart, passion in your blood, spite in your mind, hatred in your eyes. The transformation is long and painful, you might evolve properly, but if you are weak your body will simply die off. That's the paradox, our main problem. The more civilised people are the more chances they have of properly evolving, but the less chances they will have of surviving the process. We have created a warring society to be sure that the few survivors that make it all the way to the blood games will survive the transformation. If they evolve properly then I will have another child in my army, if they don't, they will go to the Garden of Flesh. And every one that dies along the way? Well, they are easy pickings for us, meat for my children so they can stay alive and sane for another day. That's why I said that it was good that your fall into the ocean triggered a fight or flight reaction, it's your survival instinct what made you evolve into what you are."
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>>4768722

"What... what are you talking about?"

"You don't know? Shortly after being kidnapped you were injected with FEV, every one that was with you on the plane was injected as well. Why do you think that you have become so big?"

Now you suddenly remember Proctor Malone's words, they had found FEV in your blood, you thought that it might have been cross contamination, but no, it was really you.

"I'm a Super-Mutant?" You ask.

"No, not in my eyes. You are limiting yourself, this armor, the pip-boy, the weapons, they might be powerful, but they are dragging you. It won't be until you are completely stripped and kill people with your own hands that you will further evolve, and truly become one of mine. If you want you can play in the Blood Games, the winner gets their wish made true and gets the chance of becoming another Oni demigod, another one of my children. If not I guess that you could also try living with us, perhaps being with your own folk might trigger the last evolutionary step that you need."

"I..."

> Participate in the Blood Games. Kunuiakea said that the winner gets their wish made true. Win the games and ask for your children.
> Move with the High Evolutionary. Stay with them for a while and see if you can discover where they are keeping your children. Just in case, stay with your companions.
> The gates of the Boneyard haven't been closed yet. Send Maggot, JC and Juniper back to the plane. Have them contact the Brotherhood and Ohana to inform them of the Fortress location. This entire place should be shelled and air bombed.
> Other options, write in.
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>>4768723
>> The gates of the Boneyard haven't been closed yet. Send Maggot, JC and Juniper back to the plane. Have them contact the Brotherhood and Ohana to inform them of the Fortress location. This entire place should be shelled and air bombed.

But make it a big speech about you truly see the light about the High Evo and you see that it is your destiny to be join the great Super Mutants blablabla...

Tell your companions that they must return and spread the word of the Great High Evo and invite others of "pure descent" to participate in the blood trials.

Stuff like "I always wondered why I was so different..."

Let's use our speech skill to really sell this. Basically I want our friends to get back unharmed and not having anyone thing we have ulterior motives. Use our pipboy to secretly communicate our true plan to JC.
>>
>>4768723
How long do the Blood Games last?
>>
>>4768810
>How long do the Blood Games last?
A month more or less. Enough for the people in the Boneyard to run out of food and start fighting for scraps or even cannibalising each other.
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>>4768723
> Move with the High Evolutionary. Stay with them for a while and see if you can discover where they are keeping your children. Just in case, stay with your companions.
Hevo infiltration arc, go.
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Since this is a pretty important choice I'll wait longer than usual before closing the voting window. In the meanwhile I'll upload pictures that match the High Evo aesthetic so you know more or less how they look.
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>>4768878
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>>4768880
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>>4768882
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>>4768885
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>>4768766
+1 and fight in the blood games
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>>4768888
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>>4768723
>>4768766
>>4768895
+1
Ideally buy ourselves a month to take care of shit and gtfo before the shells fall, cause I don't want Diego to die here but we really need to wipe this psychotic hellhole.

And the armor stays on. Tell him we're not ready to evolve yet. And if we're the only person with a power armor, then we're putting the helmet back on, it's not like anyone will have a trouble identifying us. Matter of fact, our PA is more memorable and noticeable in the crowd than a face.
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>>4768919
Yes, this and let's keep our PA if we can. Training wheels until we become a supermutant lol
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>>4768994
The whole becoming a supermutant thing is a ruse until our buddies can raise an army to help us take out this shitty island. I was just being goofy with the training wheels comment
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>>4768943
I don't really want Diego to turn in one of those things. IIrc, he felt somewhat sad about being a half-mutie.

>>4768998
Sry, forgot the name as per usual and wanted to repost rq.
And yeah, just a ruse.
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>>4768723
> The gates of the Boneyard haven't been closed yet. Send Maggot, JC and Juniper back to the plane. Have them contact the Brotherhood and Ohana to inform them of the Fortress location. This entire place should be shelled and air bombed.
>Make it a big speech about you truly see the light about the High Evo and you see that it is your destiny to be join the great Super Mutants blablabla...
> Tell your companions that they must return and spread the word of the Great High Evo and invite others of "pure descent" to participate in the blood trials.
> Tell him we're not ready to evolve yet. And if we're the only person with a power armor, then we're putting the helmet back on, it's not like anyone will have a trouble identifying us.

"I will think about it. The Blood games sound interesting, I still have a few questions for you thought. Can you show me where the games will be happening?"

Kunuiakea nods and starts walking. You put on your helmet and start following close and slowly distancing yourself from him. Once the distance is big enough you start whispering as quietly as you can.

"Roa."

"Yes, Diego?"

"Can you send a message to JC?"

"Yes."

"Perfect, tell him that they must go to plane and fly to Lana'i and Maui. Share with him the coordinates of the Fortress. They must tell everybody of the Fortress' location, with the Blood Games on most of the raiders and all of the High Evolutionary will be gathered here. They need to bombard and shell this entire place to the ground."

"Sending the message."

On JC's screen suddenly the icon of a letter flashes briefly. The robot reads the electronic mail and then nods at you, he even winks. You turn around at them and proceed to speak.

"I think that your time here comes to an end. I have finally found my people, I have finally found the light. It is my destiny to be here, it has been the will of the gods that brought me here to Kunuiakea, the first of many, the god among gods. I will become a Super-Mutant, a demigod among mortals. May your lives, be this one or the next ones bring you closer to him, to godhood. Your services are no longer required, go back to the Boneyard and watch the Blood Games or leave the island forever, I care not."

Juniper and Maggot are shocked by your words, they seem betrayed, Maggot even slowly starts to move his hand towards his gun. JC then holds them by their hands and proceeds to leave, pulling them by force.
>>
>>4769312

"You made a good choice. This place is not suitable for mortals like them."

You nod and watch them leave. Hopefully they won't be attacked in the Boneyard or their journey back to Tomorrowland. Perhaps now that you are alone with him he might also speak more and tell more of his secrets.

"Why are you at war with Ohana. Why is the war still active after such a long time?"

"During the first decades after the great war our FEV only created mutant abominations, most of which were absolutely incompatible with life and died in agony after only a few minutes of torturous existence. We spent years experimenting heavily upon the local wastelanders and captured as much fauna and flora as we could to gather their DNA and refine the formula of the virus. It took us many years, but we ultimately achieved something that created the first generation of my children. They were far from perfect, but they at least were somewhat stable. I turned several local people into Super-Mutants and conquered the entire island. Each settlement that we found was either razed, or captured. The towns that we destroyed, we always left survivors, people whose trauma left them violent and hyper aggressive and returned to a tribal age. Perfect for us. Our objective is to perfect the virus, and once we have achieved it we can truly start to conquer the rest of the wasteland, we have no dreams of conquering or expansion until then. Why conquer the rest of the islands, when they provide us with such a great source of conflict and slaves to experiment upon? Ohana on the other hand wishes to expand like the cancer that it is, it won't be happy until the entire archipelago belongs to them. They were the ones that first attacked."

He walks towards another part of the laboratory, this one isn't full of vats filled with FEV, in this one there are dozens of hanged corpses, these bodies are still wearing Power-Armor, but not the usual model of Power Armor, but one strange, on their chests you can see a great "E" emblazoned and surrounded by white stars, these people are Enclave.
>>
>>4769319

"With the arrival of the Enclave it looked like we were going to be destroyed. They took control of Ohana and used their superior firepower and technology to raze over us. We would have accepted it, this is a dog eat dog world, but we wouldn't have gone without a fight. At first we were surprised about their intentions, why would they help Ohana? They had to be a real reason for it, they were cruel, they surely didn't do it because they felt it was right. Our suspicions were confirmed when we noticed that they weren't actively hunting us down, but were instead looking for something. Unfortunately for them, I had under my control the entire island, I sent hundreds of searching parties looking for whatever they were seeking. And I found it before they did."

"W..what it is?"

"The Enclave had been utterly defeated in California. A few survivors went to the east, some others came further west here to Hawaii. They have no interest on the archipelago, they were looking for something very special. Have you ever seen a missile silo? An underground rocket ready to be launched at any time? Well, there's a very special silo on this island, one that doesn't has a nuclear payload, but a rocket capable of interplanetary travel."

"Are you serious?"

"I never joke my child. They were such cowards that they tried to go off-world and start anew somewhere else. But now that I found their little rocket, along with several other silos with nukes. This was a great discovery, I dislike nuclear weapons, there is no honor in using them, but having them under my control lets me have the Enclave controlled. Without them the Enclave would have bombarded this island long ago. They don't dare to do it because that would risk setting off the nukes, and destroying their precious rocket, their only ticket out of this irradiated chunk of rock."

"And... why are you keeping these corpses here?"

"The corpses I care not, it's their armors. Under torture one of the Enclave soldiers that we captured mentioned the name Frank Horrigan. She told me that if I liberated her she could get intel in their Headquarters about how to build Power-Armor for Super-Mutants. Apparently Frank Horrigan was an experiment that they created, a psychotic Super-Mutant covered in a perfect suit of armor. I would have liked to met him, but he died."
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>>4769322

"And what did you do?"

"I killed her on the spot. If there's something worse than a coward is a traitor, she was both. Despite controlling the island of Maui the Enclave are really settled on Moloka'i. They have an impenetrable bunker in there, I have sent many scouting parties to get information and intelligence, but none of them have ever returned. This is a secondary project, first we want to perfect the virus, then create and develop the armors, with them we will be completely unstoppable. When that happens, we will spread far and wide, we will be the hunters and the rest of the world will be our prey. It will be glorious. Stay with us child, evolve to your full potential, inherit the earth that you deserve."

The walk goes on, and from the laboratory where they are developing the Power-Armor he guides you to a massive arena. I looks like before the war this was the prison yard.

"Honestly, I don't think I deserve it yet. I feel like I need to prove myself. I will play in the blood games, show you and the rest the Onis that I truly am one of them."

Kunuiakea nods and smiles.
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>>4769324

"Very honourable of you. You will soon find that honor is not something abundant during the games. Here might makes right. It's kill or be killed." Kunuiakea then grabs a long and colorful feather and gently places it on your helmet. "This will identify you as an aspiring champion, not any champion, but the one that I favor. This feather will grant you unlimited access to the workshops and the whorehouse. My champions need to keep their blades sharp and their minds clear before any fight. Do you have any place to sleep on?"

"No." You reply.

"Huh, well then you better find one. Exhausted champions never last long. Now leave my child. Leave and make me proud. The games will start tomorrow."

The guards that kept the entrance to the Laboratory suddenly appear to your side, they make no sound or indication, but its clear what they want. Your time in the Fortress is over. They escort you back to the surface and leave you in the wild battlefield that is the Boneyard. Shortly after leaving an itchy looking raider looks at you and comes running to handle you a note, he looks like he's suffering from severe withdrawal, without a word he throws the note at your feet and leaves running, surely seeking the dealer that will pay him with chems for the delivery. You grab the note, open it and see a single message.

"Meet me at the entrance gate, we have business to talk about. Tomas Fierce."

"Who the fuck is Tomas Fierce." You say as you store the note.

Well, you still have an entire day before the games begin, you have no place to sleep and no food or water to eat. What a good start.

> Fuck it, you ate not long ago and you can spend some time without chowder. Go tot he whorehouse and spend your time screwing as many women as you can. Who knows, you might be dead tomorrow, so you better spend your last day having fun.
> Go to the workshop. Upgrade your gear as much as you can. You need to be as prepared as you can for the Blood Games.
> Intimidate and bully the people that are weaker that you to get their food, water and perhaps even a tent to sleep on.
> Go and meet with Tomas Fierce, whoever he is.
> Other options, write in.
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>>4769327
> Go and meet with Tomas Fierce, whoever he is.

Well this is mysterious indeed, let's go see who this dude is. Maybe he can find us some grub and a place to sleep.
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>>4769327
> Go and meet with Tomas Fierce, whoever he is.

And then let's hit the workshop, never too many upgroods, plus we might find something good. Who knows, maybe there's even a DATABANK lying around?

I don't even wanna know what the whorehouse for supermutants is like.
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>>4769578
>I don't even wanna know what the whorehouse for supermutants is like.
It's not for the muties, its for the people that have come to the blood games. The muties mate with a FISTO unit installed on a Sentry-Bot body
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>>4769596
Oh well now we have to find that sexy sentrybot FISTO. That's probably where the databank is lol
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>>4769327
>> Go and meet with Tomas Fierce, whoever he is.
>>
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>>4769327
> Go and meet with Tomas Fierce, whoever he is.

Well, for the first time in a very long time you are completely alone. All of your companions have left, so you might as well meet this Tomas Fierce guy, perhaps he might have some grub and a cot to sleep in.

As you walk many people stop in their tracks and turn to look at you with awe and shock on their eyes, not only you were given a chariot and allowed to enter the Fortress before the Blood Games began, but you have also come out of it with one of Kunuiakea's feathers. You are starting to make waves around here and gather attention, this would have been great in any other city, but right here, in this den of raiders, murderers and rapists attention is not what you want. Right now there's a target in your back, you will need to sleep with one eye open, after all
anyone who kills you will be called "The one who took of Kunuiakea's champion" and become the new favorite.

Tense and with your hands ready to dart towards your Laser Pistol you walk all the way back to the gate. You pass by several bodies lying on the floor, its hard to say if they are dead or simply passed out. Along the way you see people fighting, fucking, getting drunk or high, and sometimes a combination of several at the same time. These people have escaped hell and their reward will be getting to witness the most violent event of the wasteland, they are ecstatic and feeling more alive than ever. They have suffered greatly to come here, they will gladly see other people suffer for a change.

On the gate you see a man wearing a weird and thick looking metal armor, on his chest there are a couple of great speakers installed, on his back he wears a strange and bulky looking ham-radio, on his helmet there's a microphone inbuilt, you have never seen anyone like him before. He along with other workers is using pack brahmin to bring crates into the Boneyard and later unloading them in a nearby massive tent.

"Oh!" He says the moment he sees you. Weirdly enough the voice doesn't comes out of his mouth, but his chest.

"Tomas Fierce I suppose?" You reply to the man.

"Yes, well no." The man snaps his fingers and a couple of workers bring a TV, they connect a fusion battery to the device and then plug several cables to the man's backpack. Suddenly in the screen a blurry face appears, the signal is too weak and distorted to get a good look at his face. The voice still comes from the armor's speakers thought.
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>>4769770

"I am Tomas Fierce. The man in front of you is a proxy. I sell my wares across him. Hawaii is simply too dangerous for my liking. This proxy method is expensive, but it ensures my safety."

"I see." You say, not really interested on his spiel.

"Looks like you don't remember me. That's alright, I remember you. You have come here in plane right? A Kanaloan Dreadnought powered by four inverse Allison V-3420 turbocharged engines to be more precise?"

"Wait... you are the one that got me the replacement engine?"

"You finally remember. That's right, you owed my good friend H3-K4N a favor. I'm here to reclaim it on his behalf."

You sigh and roll your eyes. I guess that you can't say no, otherwise your relationships with the merchants of Lana'i might be heavily affected.

"What is it?" You then say.

"Easy. Supply and demand are the most important thing in the world. I have the supply, but I could always do with some more demand. Every night my men will steal from the other merchant stalls. I want you to protect my men and later torch their tents. Without competition my business will boom."

"And what does H3-K4N get out of this?" You ask.

"I'm selling his wares as well. He played his cards pretty well. Do it and I will grant you two hot meals per day and a place to sleep in. Decline and I'll make sure to spread the word of how untrustworthy you are."

The merchants around are absolute leeches, but they look like they aren't as psychotic and deranged as the rest of the local folk that lives here. On one hand you hate the idea of torching people's livelihoods, on the other you are pretty sure that nobody here is truly innocent.

> Accept the deal. Help him stealing merchandise and then torch the other merchant stalls.
> Decline, even if this ends affecting you negatively this goes against your morals.
> Try to negotiate another deal with him. (Roll 1d100)
> Other options, write in.
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>>4769772
>> Try to negotiate another deal with him. (Roll 1d100)
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>>4769772
> Try to negotiate another deal with him.
This should buy us some respect around here while we keep good relations with H3-K4N and get accomotation and food.
Ideally without torching/killing, unless necessary.
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inb4 this is all for nothing because Fierce's dudes die from the drone strikes and they try to fuck us over... waitwaitwait.
This guy literally talks with us through satellite or something and has contact with H3-K4N. We could relay a message about Kunuiakea through him (after making sure nobody's listening).
Tell them to delay the attack until we're done. This would also help us get a better deal since it is invaluable information that could save Fierce from huge losses before Blood Games end forever.
Why does obvious shit like this always skip my mind.
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>>4769855
H3-K4N is one of Lana'i leaders, when the message reaches them he'll just tell Fierce to pull out.
>>
Rolled 69 (1d100)

>>4769772
Try to negotiate another deal with him. (Roll 1d100)
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>>4769966
Brotherhood is on Lana'i, it's no problem to pass the message. And Fierce's dudes cannot leave after the gate is closed.
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>>4770685
We could perhaps use Fierce's radio to contact the Dreadnought and call out the bombardment? Or perhaps tell Fierce that in a month everything is gonna burn down, perhaps they could spend the time building a tunnel to escape
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>>4770712
From what I understand, the gates will be opened once the BG are over, but I could be wrong. In which case yeah, get an escape plan so they don't get mowed down.
I think the bombardment is the best and safest option. Otherwise BoS would have to parachute people to certain death at hands of these monsters, with no success guaranteed. Just delay it a bit, then level this place.
>>
Hey guys, I'm at work right now so I can't post updates. What I can say is that the Blood Games will be divided in four events. Each will be separated by an entire week, this will be just enough time to let the champion aspirants heal. There will be more than a thousand aspirants at the start, at the end only a less than five will survive.

> The Games will be:
- Keymaster.
- Cauldron
- The Gauntlet
- Rad Long

I will not include more details about them, that would be too spoiling. Try to guess what they entail.
>>
Tell him to send word to delay the bombardment, negotiate a better deal, and then head for the mutant hoor house lmao
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>>4769855
I think we might be missing the fact that if we have the BOS nuke the island then that's Fierce's line of work gone. It would be in his best interest to snitch on us to the high evo. Remember this guy willingly trades with the biggest bastards in the area so his moral compass is probably fucked.

I'd say negotiate a better deal and let's start searching for an escape route.
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>>4770739
Another thought. Brotherhood comes in and drops in Knights to fight the High Evo. Enclave gets wind of this and sends their own guys. Onis fight both of them. We set the the nukes to blow and get the hell out of dodge. High evo, BOS, and Enclave taken care of in one fell swoop. We rule all the islands via Lanai.

No Gods, No Masters. This is the way.
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>>4771314
Fuck, you're right. He could actually be this insane.
I'd still try and escape with them unless they're all complete psychos. That way he won't hold any grudges. Plus they might have a way out of the island, which we currently don't.

>>4771321
Now, Idk that much about Fallout lore, but I know that at least BoS has much more members than those who are staying in Hawaii, so we might be gigafucked in the long run if we just nuke those soldiers and the rest of them stationed on Lanai snitches on us. Correct me if I'm wrong.
>>
Sorry for the delay, I was busy with some IRL stuff. Gonna get into reading the replies and writing an update soon.
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>>4771330
Who will know it was us that set off the nukes? The High evo himself said it was his back up plan. We blame everything on him.

(FYI I'm still pissed about the BOS overstepping their mandate on Lanai, and making us follow their ticket entry system and stealing our jizz lol)

We then get off scott free with no enclave or High evo and a weakened brotherhood that we force to join Lanai properly. The BOS are super weak in California so we won't here from them again most likely.
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>>4771330

Also, JC and the gang have been gone like 5 minutes. It'll take them at least a day or two to get back to the plane and that's assuming no attacks on the way. If we tell fierce now about the plan he could snitch and then everyone would be funked.
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>>4771351
Sure, but we're talking about murdering hundreds of soldiers who had nothing to do with cumspiracy. Remember that the ones we worked with were chill, it's just the higher-ups being shitters. As always. H3-K4N could write a 100 page legally-binding doc to prevent specism and they'd still find a loophole to show how they're more special than /pol/ and their playground is only for the (un)cool kids.

>>4771356
Yeah, we definitely don't tell the fag. The escape mentioned in >>4771330 was for after the Blood Games, without telling Fierce. We can shut off their comms and tell them what's going to happen and that if they wanna survive they better work with us.
I do hope they aren't all just a bunch of thugs, tho. They seemed pretty organized and stuff.

>>4771345
No problemo.
>>
>>4771384
I see your point, but these same soldiers are the ones allowing the higher-ups to exercise their shitty policies. We didn't get stopped at the gate with a "Sorry Hero of Lanai, but the boss is being a dick, we really want to let you in." These guys are unquestioning.

The scribes and techs seemed cool on the other hand and embarrassed that we were being treated this way.

Getting rid of the muscle and the command structure will allow us to absorb the good people and eliminate the rot I think.

And yeah, people will find loopholes but the BOS has always been a shitty organisation from the start. I always mentally put them pretty close to the enclave in the grand scheme of things.
>>
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Rolled 32 + 75 (1d100 + 75)

Rolling to see if we can negotiate another deal with Tomas, the highest roll has been 69 (nice), we add +18 that our Pip-Boy grants us, the "Caps rule everything around me" perk grants us another +1, and we finally add our Barter skill, which is +74.

We get a total of 162!!!

Since Tomas is a bloodsucking leech with barely any kind of moral compass negotiating with him will be pretty hard. This will be an "Impossible!" difficulty skill check. Meaning that my dice roll will have a natural +75 modifier. If I roll 87 or less you guys succeed!

If we succeed we will also level up. We deserve it.
>>
>>4771413
Yeah I guess. Just don't wanna do fucking politics that remind me of real life in quest. Not even trying to fix it is fun, but if I were to choose, I'd try to renegotiate the deal so they fuck off with their bullshit without committing a giant warcrime.
Funnily enough, we let them settle just so they'd have a place to breed and see some grass for a change and now you wanna kill hundreds of them for simply ticketing you... Remember we have Roa with us too. Gonna kill it too after it sees us nuke the island?
>>
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>>4771449
Alright! You guys succeed!

My roll = 107
Your roll = 162

162 - 107 = 55 --> We get 5 degrees of success!

[spoilerpic related, ]mfw we are too OP, not even the hardest difficulty rolls are a challenge for you guys.[/spoiler]
>>
>>4771457
Whoops I fucked up the Spoiler. Whatever, writing now.
>>
>>4771455
See I like the sort of geopolitics aspect of things. But obviously we differ on that which is cool. I've always played FO games with trying to have the best outcome in mind for ourselves and society as a whole. The wasteland is a tough place so sometimes there has to be sacrifice. I'm also pretty into the lore so I know the BOS are pretty much dicks everywhere they go.

(Roa is cool and all but it's a voice inside our helmet basically. If it doesn't like us liberating the archipelago once and for all, albeit in a super drastic fashion, then it can sit on a shelf and collect dust lol)
>>
>>4771457
Gosh, we have reached the point in every fallout game where you can basically one-shot anything. Sweet!
>>
>>4771457
>>4771494
Petition to just go kill Kunuiakea using our newly acquired "not even the hardest difficulty rolls are a challenge" perk.
>>
>>4771509
>>4771494
Relax, we only succeeded because we are fucking beasts when it comes to Barter.

We are also pretty good at Unarmed and Energy Weapons, but we are pretty average in most other skills.
>>
>>4769772
> Try to negotiate another deal with him.

"Tomas, you are a man of business, you know how to see the great picture. Is doing business here really worth it?"

"With the Kanaloans gone? Absolutely, they used to hog the best spots and sell the best gear, now that they are a thing of the past I plan to make as much moolah as I can. Where do you think that I got the idea of torching other merchant stalls from? That was something that they used to do. Trust me, I see the big picture. A couple of years selling my shit around here and I'll make enough caps to be able to become the next Sons of Kanaloa, you'll see."

You pluck the feather from your armor and show it to the proxy.

"Look at this. This feather makes me Kunuiakea's favored champion. I'm one of his children, and soon I'll too be a fully fledged Oni as well. Why sell to raiders and tribals when you can deal with the big chiefs directly? Look around you, there are thousands of lowlifes here, zealots with no future that are ready to die for their Gods, scum that will do anything at their disposal to become the winner of the games and become one of the gods that they revere. Let me guess, you haven't dared to come in person because you are weak right? A sheltered life of doing business and crunching numbers under a desk has left you a frail man."

"N-no..." Replies the voice across the speakers, even if the voice sounds distorted and full of electronic noise its easily discernible that he's lying.

"Forget about torching the other stalls, that will only put a target over your head. Unlike you the rest of the merchants have endured an absolute hell to come here, they won't go out without a fight, it's easy to imagine that they would unite against you. I mean, look at the tribes of the island, they gleefully kill each other, but if the High Evo tells them that they have to unite to wage war against Ohana they will leave their past behind and join to fight under the same banner."
>>
>>4771596

Despite the TV's poor image quality you can clearly see Tomas' face twisting into a rage filled expression. He knows that you are right.

"Let me speak with Kunuiakea, with the other Onis. They too need weapons and armor, I'm certain that they create most of their gear, you could sell them items that are out of their technological level or crafting skill. Gain their trust and they will be the most powerful ally that you could ever have, coax them into considering you a friend and I'm sure that they will end letting you become one of them. Imagine it, a giant demigod, impervious to illness, radiation and age, perfect in every sense..."

"Yes..." Tomas says, you can see the proxy's eye widen, he doesn't likes this idea, not one bit.

Perhaps you can truly end making him deal directly with the High Evolutionary, but you doubt that they will allow him to become a Super-Mutant, and even if they did, you are completely sure that he wouldn't survive the transformation, he seems like an incredibly intelligent yet weak person, the transformation would certainly kill him.

"And even if they don't agree." Tomas continues. "They might be coaxed into selling me corpses. They did it with the Kanaloans, the corpses were mutated and almost dry of blood, but they managed to get some FEV out of them, perhaps I too could the same."

You suddenly remember how the Kanaloans too attempted to perfect the FEV formula to become Super-Mutants. It seems that the Kanaloans sold weapons and equipment to the High Evolutionary in exchange of corpses for research, bodies gathered from the Garden of Flesh that hadn't evolved properly and had been drained of their blood to gather the FEV and create more mutants. It's a good thing that you stopped the Kanaloans on their tracks, with their advanced technology their research would have surpassed the High Evolutionary in mere years, another positive aspect of them being gone is that they left a pretty big void, without them the High Evolutionary don't have anyone willing or capable of trading high tech equipment with them, the only ones with access to that level of technology are the Brotherhood and the Enclave, and clearly none of them would be willing to trade with them. Tomas could be a good replacement, someone that might fill that void.

"Is is settled then." You then say.

"And in the worst case scenario, if you die and the negotiations with the High Evolutionary break I can always return to the original plan and start torching people. I still prefer what you proposed, so you better survive the Keymaster event tomorrow."

"Keymaster?" You ask.
>>
>>4771601

"Oh yes, haven't you heard? The games will be composed of four events; Keymaster, Cauldron, Gauntlet and Rad-Long. There will be one week of preparations between each game, seven days in which the aspirant champions will rest, heal and upgrade their gear. During the games nobody is allowed to stay in the Boneyard, so no business are done, which is a shame because one could make a killing selling chems and booze among the public."

"Do you know anything about how will it be? What does the name Keymaster mean?"

"No idea. Everybody outside the High Evo are kept in the dark. You have to be prepared for anything, that's the fun of the games you know? Proxy, give Diego our flag."

The worker nods and starts rummaging around before finding and promptly giving you a folded yellow, white and red flag.

"What's this?" You ask.

"I'm sponsoring you of course! Those are my colors, easy to identify from a distance and simple enough to be remembered even by the most dim-whited of the wastelanders. My merchant stall will have several of those flags to make it easy to find. I want you to wear it as a cape, so everybody can know that you are with me. When they see you crushing the trials of the games they will associate you with my gear, and come to my shop like moths to the flame."

"Really?" You say kind of incredulously.

"Look, the original deal was burning other stalls in exchange of food and somewhere to sleep. You don't wanna burn stuff? Fine, but if you want to have me feeding and keeping you safe the least thing you can do is don my colors."

You sigh and put on the flag as if it were a cape.

"Attaboy. Now, how can Tomas help you?"

> Upgrade and repair your armor.
> Upgrade and repair your weapons.
> Get new and better weapons.
> See if you can get more Databanks and other upgrades for Roa.
> Other options, write in.
>>
>>4771603
>> See if you can get more Databanks and other upgrades for Roa.
>>
>>4771603
> See if you can get more Databanks and other upgrades for Roa.
We're going to the major leagues, Roa!
>>
>>4771631
+1
Also does any of our stuff need to be repaired?
>>
>>4772517
I don't think so? Last time our PA was damaged was back in Tomorrowland, but it was mostly scratches/cuts that didn't need fixes. Could be wrong tho.

>>4771490
We shouldn't nuke Hawaii because of Tomorrowland. Diego has already shown interest in helping Saint through and even saw Roa as Saint's son and wanted to train him how to be humane. On top of that, JC himself said he wants to settle in Tomorrowland once it's all over and help the AIs survive.
What I'm saying is that nuking this entire island and destroying everything Diego seemed to value so far and more or less betraying JC just to commit a fucking genocide would be awfully out-of-character for us now.
>>
>>4772599
So in other words. You are saying that you dont want to set the world on fire?

https://youtu.be/6l6vqPUM_FE
>>
>>4772667
No, because 5 nukes are far too much. I really hope BoS just shells the fucking prison.
>>
>>4772667
I dunno, I kind of like the no gods no masters mentality too. Needs of the many etc.....
>>
>>4771603
> See if you can get more Databanks and other upgrades for Roa.

"Roa, what do you need to have more memory and be able to install more updates?"

"Memory Banks, Datachips, Ram-sticks, Transistor Cores... any of them work to be honest.

"Do you have memory banks? Datachips? RAM...sticks, Transistor Cores...that kind of stuff?" You ask to Tomas.

"My clientele is made of primitive tribals and deranged raiders, they don't have the necessary delicacy or brains to upkeep a high tech weapon, but luckily for you I decided to bring some robots bodyguards with me, a few ones died during the journey. Feel free to plunder their corpses for whatever data whatchamacallit that you are looking for. But leave their shells, we plan to sell them as scrap metal for repairs or as armor pieces."

You nod and enter into the massive tent that they have built and look in the back. Around people and robots are still unloading boxes and preparing the merchandise, thrown back there you see a pile of broken bots, some have arrows embedded in them, other's seem to have been destroyed by the local friendly fauna.

"Alright Roa, help me search around." You whisper as you start to rummage across the pile of scrap. Your HUD immediately changes, using you as his eyes Roa starts to scan around and identifying the items that might be useful. It takes you a few hours to find necessary components, most are either too damaged or completely incompatible but ultimately you manage to gather enough components to get a new update. Following Roa's instructions you use your knife to unscrew and open several panels and inside of them do the necessary steps to install the different technological gizmos.

Following that your HUD changes once more, now it shows a cascade of code that reboots several times and a loading bar that at times freezes for what feels like an eternity and you can swear it sometimes goes backwards. It takes you a couple of hours, but ultimately Roa manages to install and add all of the new components to its internal firmware. The worst of it all is that since Roa is a hundred percent busy with this new hardware installation the armor completely freezes in place, any sudden movement might have affected or corrupted the installation.
>>
>>4773320

"Sorry for the delay, not every piece was a hundred percent compatible, I had to rewrite certain datapaths bit by bit."

"It's alright." You say gaining once more control of your body and feeling your muscles completely sore and pained. "Is everything alright?" You then ask.

"Yes. Sorry, I still need some time to get used. Imagine if your body suddenly changed, you would need to learn how to move once more."

"Been there, trust me."

"Yeah, well, I suppose you do yes." He says with a surprisingly human sounding voice. It looks like he's not only learning from you and your surroundings, but each new memory upgrade also increases its humanity somehow. "Now this is interesting..."

"What happens?"

"The memory modules that we installed had some old data from the robots, I'm checking it our right now. I think I could make some handy updates out of this. "

"That's great, show me what you can do!"

"FIRST UPDATE - KINETIC DELIVERANCE UPGRADE: The servomotors that power the hydraulic muscle bundles and the Exothermic burners will be upgraded with better energy routing. You will become drastically faster and stronger."

"SECOND UPDATE - SURVIVAL TOOLKIT INSTALLATION: This update will allow your helmet's visor to act like a natural scope and let you zoom to recon far away areas or snipe distant enemies. It will also teach me how to lockpick doors and perform minor surgeries and first aid treatment. If we find a locked door or a treatable wound I will be able to take control of your hands and do the work for you."

"THIRD UPDATE - THERMOELECTRIC DRILL IMPACT: This update will allow your Power Armor's fists to spin at more than 2000 revolutions per minute. The revolutions will cause friction that will send sparks flying and cause your fists to get on fire, this combined with your Tesla Gauntlets could create a formidable weapon."

"FOURTH UPDATE - LUMOENERGETIC REROUTING: By sacrificing your laser pistol and using its components along with some scrap metal and other resources around I could make your helmet be able to fire Laser Bolts. You would be able to Fire Lasers while keeping your hands free."

> Choose the FIRST UPDATE - KINETIC DELIVERANCE UPGRADE
> Choose the SECOND UPDATE - SURVIVAL TOOLKIT INSTALLATION
> Choose the THIRD UPDATE - THERMOELECTRIC DRILL IMPACT
> Choose the FOURTH UPDATE - LUMOENERGETIC REROUTING
> Other options, write in.
>>
>>4773324
> Choose the FIRST UPDATE - KINETIC DELIVERANCE UPGRADE
> Tell Roa to give us heads up next time it's gonna shut the armor down so we can get out and stretch

Love the eye lasers, but those overpowered supermutants can definitely tear holes in our armor. Having super agility and strength will come in handy for dodging and blocking.
>>
>>4773324

"FIRST UPDATE - KINETIC DELIVERANCE UPGRADE: The servomotors that power the hydraulic muscle bundles and the Exothermic burners will be upgraded with better energy routing. You will become drastically faster and stronger."

More rip and tear? More rip and tear! Seems appropriate for the blood challenges we face
>>
>>4773324
>> Choose the FIRST UPDATE - KINETIC DELIVERANCE UPGRADE
>>
Numero Uno
>>
>>4773324
> Choose the FIRST UPDATE - KINETIC DELIVERANCE UPGRADE

"I want the first update, but wait, will installing it lock the armor in place?" You ask.

"Yes, it will require fine attunement and syncing of the thousands of synthetic muscle bundles and all the hydraulic servo-rotors. To better ensure the correct deployment of the update the armor has to be completely still."

"I understand, open the armor, I want to get out of it."

"Is there anything wrong?."

"No, but you have to understand that we humans cannot stay still for hours, our bodies become sore and it's painful. I have been in the same position for too long already, if I spend any more time like that tomorrow I'll be too cramped to move. And tomorrow's the big day, the first Blood Game. I need to be fresh, or else I'll be a dead man walking"

"I... yes, sorry Diego. I have no body, I didn't thought of that, there's still much that I need to learn."

As he finishes saying this the armor automatically opens in the backside, as if inviting you to exit. Slowly you leave and feel fresh air for the first time in days, your body isn't only sore, but also pained, the armor that you are wearing it's too small for you, it was designed with humans in mind, and you aren't a human, not anymore. According to Kunuiakea the armor is limiting your growth, perhaps that might be true, but you don't want to grow anymore, you don't want to be a Oni, you have seen what they are, nothing but monsters.

Once you are completely out the armor closes, before installing the update Roa sends you one last message thought.

"Rest for now Diego. Tomorrow's an important day."
>>
>>4774886

After saying this the armor seals itself and starts slowly vibrating, in the lenses of the helmet you can see a cascade of erratic code descending. You nod at his words and with a pained grunt walk towards one of the side tents were a warm plate of stew and a comfy bed await for you. The food is surprisingly good, but you cannot avoid having trouble to eat it, not because it is too chewy or anything, but because you cannot avoid feeling that this might be your last meal. After finishing you lie on the bed and quickly fall asleep. Usually you don't dream anything, today you wished that was the case, a nightmare invades your sleep, one where you see you children, being injected and dipped in FEV, and how they mutate and change in front of your eyes.

"GAH!" You scream, as you wake up covered in cold sweat. The sun has already risen, Roa has finished the updates and is now patiently waiting on your side. You get inside of the armor and get out of the tent. It's dawning, most people are asleep, you can see parrots and rats feasting on the several corpses that already littler the ground, ironically enough not very far away from these same corpses there are also people eating rats and the birds that they have captured and killed.

In the distance you see the entrance to the Fortress. The high evolutionary have hanged a great banner made of several human skins sewn together. In the banner you can read "BLOOD GAMES - KEYMASTER" written in blood. The gates to enter the Fortress and watch or participate in the event are still closed and heavily guarded, but it looks like they will open soon, there are already several people waiting in front of them.

Suddenly an air raid alarm sounds all across the Boneyard, several old speakers blast the noisy screeches, waking up everybody at once. Slowly all gather around the entrance to the Fortress, people are divided in two, watchers and champions, obviously there are way more people willing to simply watch than participate, but the quantity of champions is still surprisingly high. The people you will compete with are all dangerous looking, a few of them even have Power-Armors like you do. Your confidence in winning is diminishing by the minute.

The gates open, the spectators are the first ones to enter, once every one of them has crossed the participants are finally allowed to go in. I guess that this is done to avoid any mixing between the two groups, and also to avoid having champions chicken out in the last minute and attempt to pass as an spectator.
>>
>>4774889

"Roa, are you there?" You ask.

"Of course Diego, anything wrong?"

"No, I just wanted to not feel alone. My friends are gone, you are the only friend that I have left. Who knows, Maggot, JC and Juniper might have been killed during their return."

"I... cannot reach them, JC's signal is too far away. But perhaps using the proxy's radio equipment I might boost my signal and contact them."

"Yeah, let's do that, my babies are still somewhere on this island, and now we know about the underground nukes, this place cannot be bombarded, not yet."

"You'll have to survive today to do that."

"We will, let's go!" You say as you enter along with the other champions.

Following the guards you are all guided towards an enormous arena made from scrap metal, wood and the prison's own foundations. In the centre of the arena there is a massive object covered by a tarp, oddly enough scattered across the arena there are also several pillar like objects covered in tarps as well. In the opposite side you can see built platform for Kunuiakea and all of his Oni children. All around you the spectators are already seated and cheering or screaming, as you look at them you notice something odd, all of the spectators are wearing crude radiation suits, sunglasses and they all have baggies full to the brim with Rad-Xs... what's going on?

"ASPIRING CHAMPIONS!" Suddenly screams Kunuiakea to a microphone, his voice gets streamed across a series of speakers that fill the entire arena with his roar like voice. "TODAY YOU WILL TEST YOUR RESOLVE AND SPEED! THIS IS THE KEYMASTER!"

As he says this several Onis come to the arena and start removing the tarps of the objects. The great object in the centre is a nuke, a fucking live nuclear bomb, the pillar like objects turned out to be Pulowski Shelters. Around the nuke there are several cords and chains and from them dozens of hanging keys of all sizes, shapes and colors.

"THE NUKE WILL GO OFF IN THIRTY MINUTES! FIND A KEY AND OPEN A SHELTER IF YOU WANT TO SURVIVE! THE TIME STARTS NOW!"

There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of aspiring champions, and at most fifty shelters. This will be an absolute massacre.

> Run towards the nuke and grab as many keys as you can.
> Wait until you see someone opening a shelter and then attack, steal the shelter from it.
> Run towards one of the shelters and see if you can lockpick it.
> Other options, write in.
>>
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>>4774890
Wait, won't the nuke kill EVERYONE when it goes off?
Those shelters have been proven to not shield from radiation, unless these are special.
>>
>>4774900
>Wait, won't the nuke kill EVERYONE when it goes off?
>Those shelters have been proven to not shield from radiation, unless these are special.

Those shelters are special, trust me.
>>
>>4774890
> Tell Roa to help us with the speed and precision.
> Run towards the nuke and grab as many keys as you can.
> Be on the lookout for someone opening a shelter. Hijacking is still our best chance.
>>
>>4774890
> Other options, write in.

Tell Roa to reverse the polarity on our tesla gauntlets, creating an electromagnet, and attract all the nearby keys to us instantly. Then use a key to open the shelter.

Also tell ROA to actively manage our radiation levels with rad-x and rad-away as needed.
>>
>>4774962
You do realize that the keys are not the only metal thing in that place, right?
>>
>>4774970
We're not creating the Central Solenoid here. Just a small one to attract small metal like keys.
>>
>>4774890
> Run towards the nuke and grab as many keys as you can.
>>
>>4775027
Alternatively we could just use our new kinetic strength to force open the doors on one of the shelters.
>>
>>4774890
>Ask Roa whether we can now wield the Spanish Navy Cannon in one hand if necessary.
adding this to >>4774929


>>4775027
Oh, my bad. Thought you wanted to pull them from around the entire nuke.
One thing to consider in this case would be the reaction of everyone else. Do we immediately want to become a target for a bunch of opponents?
>>
>>4775097
The thought did occur to me actually but either way we're going to be fighting off people if we go in and grab a bunch of keys as well. Also I'm assuming that all the keys are different so we're just going to be there trying keys nonstop...

Probably better to just rip open the door of one of the shelters and use our cosmic heated knife to weld it shut again once we're inside.
>>
>>4775125
Something tells me that these shelters are designed to not be opened by anything at all.
Now, if they can forced open, we better wait for a supermutant or someone else in power armor to do it, and then blast them in the head. So we don't risk breaking our armor... and getting blasted in the head.
And then there's always the scenario where the door/mechanism/electronics inside break and render the damn thing useless. It needs to be sealed properly and function flawlessly unless it's just an elevator door, but we know nothing about what's really inside.

Good luck welding it on with a group of desperate fuckers trying to rip it out of our metal hands to claim the spot.
>>
>>4775185
>Something tells me that these shelters are designed to not be opened by anything at all.
The keys work. Kunuiakea is a cruel yet fair god.

>Now, if they can forced open, we better wait for a supermutant or someone else in power armor to do it, and then blast them in the head. So we don't risk breaking our armor... and getting blasted in the head.
There are no Super-Mutants in the Blood Games, only humans.
>>
>>4775229
>The keys work.
Yeah, I only meant opening by force.
Should've worded it properly.

>There are no Super-Mutants in the Blood Games, only humans.
Oof. Well, that certainly makes things easier.
>>
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>>4774890
> Tell Roa to help us with the speed and precision.
> Ask Roa whether we can now wield the Spanish Navy Cannon in one hand if necessary.
> Run towards the nuke and grab as many keys as you can.
> Tell Roa to reverse the polarity on our tesla gauntlets, creating an electromagnet, and attract all the nearby keys to us instantly.
> Be on the lookout for someone opening a shelter. Hijacking is still our best chance.

Almost everybody starts to run towards the nuke, a few ones, the most bloodthirsty and psychopathic of the aspirants instead immediately start attacking and shooting at anyone near them. Suddenly many of the people that ran towards the nuke explode in a shower of blood, the area surrounding the nuke is a minefield.

"Roa, can you detect the mines?" You ask.

"Calculating... yes. I can see where they are."

"Then full speed! If I'm going to step on a mine then make me step away!" You scream as you feel your body muscles and the armor's own synthetic musculature tensing up. Like a bullet you launch yourself into the nuclear bomb and quickly surpass the rest, anyone unfortunate enough to be on your path gets violently shoved or brutally flattened under your mighty weight. You don't check, but you are sure that most die from the impact. or are pushed into a mine "Roa! Now that we are stronger, could I wield the Cannon with one hand?"

"Calculating.... Yes, but the recoil might be enough to throw you into the ground. Using the cannon's automatic fire while wielding it with one hand is not advised."

"Good enough for me!"
>>
>>4775262

It's a good thing that you decided to get the Kinetic Deliverance Update, with it you not only are you now capable of wielding such a massive cannon with one hand but you have also gained a speed boost that gives you an absolute edge and a clear advantage against your opponents. You are by far the first one to reach the bomb, the moment you get close your Geiger counter starts to make noise. There are dozens of chains surrounding the bomb, and tied to them hundreds of keys, there's also a small TV mounted on top of the bomb, on its screen a countdown.

"Roa, can you reverse the polarity of our Tesla Gauntlets to act as an electromagnet?"

"Calculating... I can. Reversing polarity."

Suddenly your tesla gauntlets start to glow with a violent light and sparks start to fly everywhere. Several of the nearby keys start to get attracted by the magnetic pull of your gauntlets. CLING! CLING! CLING! CLING! You grab as many keys as you can and feel how several more get stuck into your forearms on their own. Once your hands are full enough you once more start to run back towards the Pulowski Shelters, the rest of the participants don't take much longer to arrive.

Once more you accelerate and become a pain train, anyone in your path suffers the consequences. As you run you look back and see that the area around the bomb has become an absolute battlefield, people are killing each other to get closer to the bomb or to steal the keys of other participants.

You reach a shelter and check that nobody is around or has followed you. Close to you there's another shelter, a scrawny looking Raider is using a crowbar to pry it open. This isn't a good idea, if you breach your way into the shelter then afterwards it won't seal properly, and your will be completely exposed to the nuke's shockwave and radiation. Suddenly you hear a click, the raider manages to open the shelter, the door slides open and to his horror from the inside four cramped Feral Ghouls come out and start tearing him to pieces, it looks like several of these shelters come with a nasty surprise inside of them.

You groan and look at your hands, there are dozens of keys there. Time to get to work.

> Roll 1d100!
>>
Rolled 66 (1d100)

>>4775266
>>
Rolled 54 (1d100)

>>
Rolled 90 (1d100)

>>4775266
>>
Rolled 74 (1d100)

Alright my turn.
>>
>>4775419
Nice!
>>
>>4775266

You crouch and start trying keys. THUNK THUNK THUNK! "Fuck!" You scream as you see the key fitting but not turning. One by one you go across the many keys that you have gathered, most don't fit, and the ones that don't don't turn at all. You have to be careful with your superhuman strength, if you are not delicate you might end accidentally breaking the key while it is still inside and completely blocking the lock, on top of that cannot discard the keys, maybe they might open another shelters.

Nervously you give another look around and see that more shelters have been pried open, and that from their interior more monsters or other dangers of the wasteland have emerged. Now not only feral ghouls are running amok across the arena, but also Spore Walkers, Fire Ants and Geckos as well, some other shelters had other nasty surprises inside of them in the form incredibly radioactive barrels of nuclear waste or traps composed of loaded shotguns or grenade bouquets that activated as soon as the door opened.

The only thing you can hear are the explosions of the mines, the screams of the wasteland abominations and the aspiring champions, gunshots being fired and bullets whistling in the air. As you are trying a key suddenly a couple of bullets hit and ricochet against your head, with a grunt you turn around and see a scared looking ghoul shaking entirely as she holds a hunting rifle, the poor girl is covered in ash, blood and sand, the moment you turn to look at her she starts to cry and throws the rifle away before running away from you, she only manages to make a few feet before stepping on a mine and blowing herself up.

You ignore her and go back to opening the shelter. You only have a one more key to try, it better work, otherwise you will need to go back to the nuke, and that area is a complete warzone. Your armor might be able to easily shrug off a couple of gunshots, but you are sure that you won't be able to leave that kind of battlefield unscathed.

You give one look at the nuke, and see that there are little more than fifteen minutes before it detonates.

CLICK, CLICK, CLICK! The last key turns all the way and opens the shelter. You walk back a couple of steps and ready your Laser Gun to shot at whatever might be on the other side. To your surprise what you see is an empty shelter, one that has been lined on the inside with lead to make it more protective against radiation, there is even a couple of bottles of Rad-X and Rad-Away inside.

"Fuck yes." You say as you see that you have been lucky. Then, as you try to enter you suddenly notice that perhaps you weren't so lucky.

You are too big to fit in.

No matter how many times you try you are simply too bulky. You will have to sacrifice something to be able to fit in.

> Leave your Power Armor outside.
> Leave your Naval Cannon outside.
> Leave Your Knives, Thermal Cleavers, Grenades, and all of your ammunition and Chems outside.
> Other options, write in.
>>
>>4775486
> Leave your Naval Cannon outside.
it's too good for this world
>>
>>4775486
Hey, I noticed a mistake:

The girl that shoots at us isn't a ghoul, but a raider, I don't know why I wrote ghoul instead of raider.

As mentioned before, the High Evolutionary religion hates ghouls, so they aren't allowed to participate in the Blood Games.
>>
>>4775486
> Leave the cannonball safe (backpack) outside
Take the cannon. We'll see if the safe with ammo can be salvaged, but cannon itself is by far our best weapon.
>>
>>4775508
+1

Good luck to anyone trying to carry it away lol
>>
>>4775486
>>4775508
Oh, and drop it on the side. We don't want that metal box to fuck up the door in case the blast sends in the air.
>>
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>>4775486
> Leave the cannonball safe (backpack) outside

Quickly you remove your heavy backpack and hear it fall into the ground with a hard and loud THUD, the landing opens the safe's door and makes it spill cannonballs everywhere. You don't care, they don't matter anymore. You grab one of your thermal cleavers and start chopping the tube that connects it to your cannon, despite of your immense strength the tube is so sturdy that it takes several chops to start breaking it down. "Fucking Brotherhood and their fucking quality standards." You mutter to yourself as you continue chopping away.

By the time you are done there are only about five minutes until the nuke goes off. A desperate raider jumps into your back and tries to stab your neck with a machete but the blade shatters in half. Without a second thought you grab him from the neck and shatter his spine, you deliver a quick and painless death, something that he wouldn't have granted you if he had the chance. You toss his corpse away and grab all the bottles of Rad-X inside of the shelter. You remove your helmet, open the lid and chug down all of the anti-radiation capsules. They are hard to swallow and taste pretty foul, they are after all two centuries old medicines but you nonetheless make sure to take every one of the capsules before throwing the bottle away and entering into the shelter.

The last five minutes feel like an eternity. Roa's puts a countdown in your HUD, as the time runs out your heart starts beating louder and louder, your hands and legs tremble more and more. Despite of the shelter's thick lead covered interior you can still hear what's going on in the outside, there are screams, cries, gunshots and explosions.

With less than a minute left someone starts slamming on your shelter.

"Let me enter man! I will suck you off!" A desperate feminine and sobbing voice says. You gulp, shake your head and stay quiet. She continues crying, begging and screaming, and then the nuke goes off. You close your eyes but nonetheless see a bright light under your eyelids, the explosion is absolutely deafening and earth shattering.

You spend a couple of minutes in quiet solitude, its eerie how one minute there was a deafening cacophony of noise and screams, and the next one absolute silence. Despite all of the lead you have still absorbed some radiation. You take the RadAway and then start slowly sliding the door open, your hands are trembling, you are afraid to see what lies on the other side.
>>
>>4776048

The nuke didn't explode with all of its might, centuries of rust, damage and erosion had lowered its yield power, Kunuiakea seemed to have taken this into account, had it been a new and fully functioning nuke the entirety of the arena would have been blasted and destroyed. Still the damage caused was terrible, you expected the worst and still the reality in front of you was worse than anything that you could have imagined. Dead bodies everywhere, the ones closest to the nuke were completely charred to the bone, the creatures that had been released from inside the shelters were also dead, several birds also littered the floor, a few ones even fell from the sky as you looked up. There have been several aspiring champion survivors, a few of the Pulowski shelters even held inside up to three participants. You look at the public and see that several of the spectators have also perished, some of them have survived but have been heavily affected by the rads and are now bleeding from their eyes and violently puking, ironically enough it looks like a bunch of the spectators that died perished when your cannonballs were violently launched after the explosion. A few unlucky champions survived the detonation but were instantly turned into feral ghouls, despite being raiders you cannot avoid feeling sad about them, being a feral is a fate worse than death. Kunuiakea's Onis proceed to enter the arena and using hooks and nets start taking all the corpses and ghoulified survivors, you don't like to think about it, but you are sure that they will feast on them tonight.

Kunuiakea stands up and starts clapping, the rest of his Onis follow through, and soon do the people in the public, even the ones that have been heavily irradiated. The Super-Mutant God looks directly at you and nods. He seems to be happy to see that you survived.


> WE LEVEL UP
> +80 HP
> Current HP: 1205
> + 16 Skill points
> + 1 Perk

> Character Sheet:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/17h2Zm77a7A6MuvcRf4QdBZ-agS7B90SsgInJJ-O9COA/edit

> Standard perks:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/17lByiQu0HWGGJrxEx-L1yL5pFQTAbE_abbrSClSn-Ps/edit

> Racial perks:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bDWe2DsgK5dr-WPCZx9wpKEAu7JyG-8biuiWqaOBrRM/edit
>>
>>4776053
Damn, that was rad. I guess thats how Kunuiakea separates the wheat from the chaff.
>Day tripper
>+16 Survival
>>
>>4776053
Rip cannonballs. At least they didn't go to waste lol
>+16 Survival
>+Famous Nobody
Something that you did in your past made you really famous among an incredibly small percentage of the population. You aren’t even sure of what made you famous like that.
Once per in-game day while in combat against humanoid enemies you can make one of the enemies your fan and make it betray their group and join you. After the combat your fan will leave, perhaps after asking for a picture or an autograph.

I had this in mind since last level up. Speaking of, would we be slowly going mad without Jaded Soul?
>>
>>4776199
I admit Jaded Soul was very well timed. Famous Nobody tho, that's a shit perk, we go through hundreds of people like they are wet cardboard.
>>
>>4776204
Sure, but there's more to having an ally among a group of enemies than just firepower. I mainly wanted to grab it for the intel, access and opportunities, plus minor roleplay value.
Don't forget that those giant armor-clad Onis are also humanoids.

>>4775262
>>4776048
Forgot to say, but I really love those pic edits. Especially the bomb. Would look better on transparent png tho.
>>
>>4776263
The perk says the fan goe away after combat, and if you want intel Speech checks are still a thing that exists even if we barely try them.
>>
>>4776264
Yeah but perks don't work in the quest exactly as games describe them, so if we got a fan, we could ask for minor help with locked door or info or shit without doing speech checks. And if their goal aligned with ours (like escaping this place), then I imagine we could work together.
But it's for Axsi to decide how would the perk translate into our story.
>>
>>4776199
> I had this in mind since last level up. Speaking of, would we be slowly going mad without Jaded Soul?
Oh yes, very much so. I even cursed under my breath when you guys chose it. Basically I was saving all the traumatic stuff for the Blood Games.

>>4776263
> Forgot to say, but I really love those pic edits. Especially the bomb. Would look better on transparent png tho.
Ask and ye shall receive: https://imgur.com/a/xUN31aG
>>
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>>4776678
>Basically I was saving all the traumatic stuff for the Blood Games.
I really enjoy seeing our choices visibly affect the quest, whether it's in good or bad way, so seeing Diego run out of the fucks to give is really nice.

>Ask and ye shall receive
Thank.
>>
>>4776053
> Dances with Deathclaws
I figure this one will be super useful with cazaclaws and the other horrors on this island.
>+16 Survival
>>
>>4776825
+1
>>
> Dances with Deathclaws
I should have changed the name of that perk. Truth is that in game Deathclaws arent considered animals, but abominations. I think I several times described them as abominations in-quest as well.

This perk is basically the "Animal friend" perk from the games. And the perk doesnt affects Deathclaws either.

https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Animal_Friend

If you pick this perk you wont be able to pacify Cazaclaws
>>
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>>4776973
Deleted and back to my previous vote.
>>
>>4776976
Thanks for understanding it.

I mean. C'mon, its obvious that at some point you are going to fight Cazaclaws. We encountered raiders that where trying to capture one.

If I made them pacific that would make the trials far too easy. And they are supposed to be hard god damnit!
>>
>>4776977
I thought it was a loophole lol... I actually looked up deathclaws on the FO wiki and they were developed from some type of chameleon. So I went "ah technically it's a mutated animal so this should work" (Plus it's called Dances with Deathclaws!)

Maybe as an alternative we could make the perk only allow us to take control once a day of an abomination? Or would that be too OP?

Otherwise I vote to a perk that increases rad resistance since the last trial is literally called "Long Rads"
>>
>>4777008
>I thought it was a loophole lol... I actually looked up deathclaws on the FO wiki and they were developed from some type of chameleon.
The Jackson Chameleon yes, but they don't count as mutated animals because they weren't a natural creation. They were created by the US goverment as a biological weapon.

Cazaclaws are further bio-engineered. So yeah, freaky genetic abominations.

>Maybe as an alternative we could make the perk only allow us to take control once a day of an abomination? Or would that be too OP?
You guys really seem to want this perk. So what about having control over animals, and if you roll a 1d100 and get 90 or more have temporal control over abominations like feral ghouls and cazaclaws?

>Otherwise I vote to a perk that increases rad resistance since the last trial is literally called "Long Rads"
That's metagaming anon! Diego doesn't knows what the next trials will be about, he doesn't even knows their names.

And its not "Long Rads"... it's "Rad Long", trust me, there's a LOT of difference.
>>
>>4777017
To be honest I was more keen on controlling abominations. I'll look at the perk list again.

And hey, you told us the names of the trials and to try and figure them out. Can't blame us for thinking ahead ;)
>>
>>4777031
Ok: Entomologist if it helps against cazaclaws.

If not packrat, because I assume we're going to lose our stuff at some point in these trials and it will be useful to be able to hide a laser pistol in diego's ass
>>
>>4777037
Why the Laser Pistol. Think big my friend!

*Diego takes a massive Cannon out of his ass. Everyone loses 1d100 sanity points and gets stunned for 1d4 turns*
>>
>>4777042
Lmao, we could just cut the middleman completely and have Diego fire cannonballs directly out of his ass. Roll 1d100 for poison damage from shit-covered cannonballs.
>>
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>>4776977
Okay, imma change >>4776199 to >>4776167. No offense, but I just prefer stuff from the sheet over crafting custom perks.
>>
>>4776053

The entire coliseum explodes in cheers, screams and roaring applause.

Slowly more and more survivors start to get out of the Pulowski shelters, you see that some of them start grabbing wire from inside the shelters and being using it to craft collars with the keys that they gathered, you too do the same, it will be a reminder of what kind of hell you have endured to recover your children.

All of the dead spectators are kicked down into the arena by the survivors, a few living people are pushed as well. The Onis make no distinction, dead or not if you weren't one of the winning champions you then you were violently taken and pulled away. The super-mutants reward the surviving spectators that pushed corpses and people into the arena by throwing them small bags full of caps or chems.

Kunuiakea itself stands up and starts throwing great bags full of caps to the surviving champions, you too catch one and amazed open it to see that there must be at least a thousand caps inside.

"ENJOY YOUR REWARD MY CHILDREN! TONIGHT EVERY ONE OF YOU IS INVITED TO FEAST WITH US! LEARN OF THE GLORY THAT AWAITS YOU! MEET YOUR FUTURE BROTHERS AND SISTERS!"

The survivors roar as raise their weapons high, they have never felt more alive, several rip open bags of RadAway and drink from them like madmen.

You look down and see that the safe that once was your cannoball canister is now half melted, it also looks like the girl that desperately knocked on your door only minutes before the bomb went off somehow tried to fit herself inside of the safe, a desperate and stupid attempt. You grab the little of what remains from her corpse and chuck it towards one of the Onis who quickly gives you an approval nod and shoves the corpse into his bag.

With a sigh you give one last look at Kunuiakea. Only one more week before the next Blood Game begins.

> Accept his offer and feast with him, use this week to get to know him and his Onis better. Work to create a trading deal between Tomas and the High Evolutionary.
> Spend this week recovering and resting, use your free time to maintain and upgrade your gear, try to craft a new cannonball canister as well. Be as prepared as you can for the next Game.
> Let Roa aid you and spend this week building a radio antenna capable of contacting with JC and the rest.
> Fuck it, spend the week whoring and getting as high and drunk as you can. You have the money, you can afford it
> Other options, write in.
>>
>>4777304
Can we spend just one day with Kunuiakea and then return to more important things?
>>
>>4777332
Yeah, it's just that I don't want to drag the quest while we wait for the next events. Spending only one day is fine.
>>
>>4777335
> Accept his offer and feast with him for a day, use this time to get to know him and his Onis better.
> Spend the rest of this week recovering and resting, use your free time to maintain and upgrade your gear, try to craft a new cannonball canister as well. Be as prepared as you can for the next Game.

What about our bodyguarding job, tho?
>>
>>4777347
>What about our bodyguarding job, tho?
We would only protect his people when they went to torch the other merchant stalls. Since the plan of burning other people's business has been abandoned we don't need to act as his bodyguard no more. Besides, we are already using his banner as a cape, we are doing loads of free publicity to him. That's more than enough work.
>>
>>4777388
okay
>>
Hey guys, I was thinking... perhaps having one Blood Game every week and having time to rest between games is too boring and kind of a drag.

What if every game happened one after another, with only one night of rest between them? Every morning a new event!

And after the games... an entire month of celebration. And in the celebration (if we manage to survive...) we will have the time to contact JC, make deals with the High Evo and of course party hard.

Should we retcon it?
>>
Personally don't mind the week-long breaks, but I'll stay neutral.

In case you're worried that the challenges are gonna be weak on their own, just double the stakes. It seems more realistic with big fight every week. And it'd be odd that they keep all those people to starve/kill each other in a month-long celebration.
>>
>>4777493
Objectively, having all games one after the other would be better for the pace. Personally, I prefer when we get some time to explore a settlement before we do our brand of renovations on it. And even then in past arcs it felt like we missed on a lot, like Fallen Horizon and SoK's Lana'i.
And by the way, something I've been thinking but I didn't get to say due to work. If our main priority has always been saving our kids, why did we send JC to nuke the place... and then participate in the Blood Games? It would make sense if we needed to play the games to get to our kids and then bomb the place but the villain literally gave us an invitation to join him when we met him, as it is now the kids, the games and the plan get all in the way of each other.
>>4777304
>> Accept his offer and feast with him, use this week to get to know him and his Onis better. Work to create a trading deal between Tomas and the High Evolutionary.
>>
>>4777493
I agree with this, otherwise we're going to be in the same place for a month. Even an event every couple days would be good.
>>
Hey guys, an update:

My grandfather died tonight. I don't think I will be able to update in a few days. I recently lost an aunt as well, so this has fucking broken me.

Thank you for your understanding and patience.
>>
>>4779292
My condolences Ax, I know that feel.
>>
>>4779292
Take all the time you need.
>>
>>4779292
Sorry to hear that Axsi, know exactly how you feel. Take all the time you need bro
>>
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Hey guys, thanks for being understanding and for your support.

Next update on Thursday.
>>
>>4784341
Sorry, I meant Tuesday. Next update on Tuesday.
>>
>>
>>4777304

None of the aspiring champions rejects the offer, they all eagerly take the chance to feast with the High Evolutionary. To them this is no more celebration, but a meeting with the gods themselves. In one end of the arena two great wooden doors are opened, the doors are so massive that to be moved they have to be pushed by several mutant abominations.

These twisted creatures have dozens of strange implants and tesla coils protuding from their scar and tumor covered bodies, these odd devices are constantly spewing sparks and electrity arcs, seemingly constantly electrocuting and torturing them into submission. It seems like not all the rejects are inmediately put in suspended animation and used as FEV farms, if they are stable and powerful enough they instead are forced into a life of indentured servitude. In a way you hope that these monsters don't remember their lives before their transformations, suffering a torturous existence is punishment enough but on top of that being conscious and knowing that the people that you revered as gods are the cause of your suffering must be a terrible fate. You can't wait to see this entire place being bombed into oblivion, to see all of these raiders, tribals and Super-mutants turned into ash, but first you have to find and rescue your chidren.

You too cross the gate and leave the arena to enter in the Fortress. The walls are decorated with murals painted with blood and natural pigments, totems made of bones and corpses and entire looms composed of skin of all types, including one made entirely of human faces. To your horror you witness that what Kunuiakea had shown you before was nothing but an insignificant fraction of what his massive territory entails. This place might have started as a mere prison but it looks like in the days before the Great War as the paranoia and the red scare reached boiling points it was expanded in every direction to hold thousands of communist sympathisers and political disidents, it also has several underground floors, who knows how many and how big they are, hopefully they aren't big and deep enough to endure the incoming bombardment. On top of that the High Evolutionary have built a massive wooden structure over the entire place. This place could easily hold the entire population of this island inside of it, does Kunuiakea really hope to fill this whole fortress with Super-Mutants?
>>
>>4787987

As you walk you pass by old prison cells, from them the High Evolutionary observe your arrival. Among the champion aspirants you are the tallest, even next to the few ones that wear Power-Armor, but still you are little more than a runt in comparison with all the Super-Mutants, they are all at least a head taller than you are. Every mutant is unique in its own way, as Kunuiakea told you their DNA is flawed and is constantly degrading, the meat they eat causes them to add foreign DNA into their own, and this can cause them to aquire traits of the prey that they eat. Scales, claws, and even athropied wings are all common around them, they don't seem to mind at all. The prison cells are open, some dont even have bars, they seem to sleep and live there, they have the bare minimum, no furniture, no decorations, no nothing. It looks like with the exception of a weapons and armor rack they don't have any more neccesities. The High Evolutionary are a warrior culture, they don't produce anything, they don't farm or raise, they only destroy and raid, they only hunt and feed on others. If they really perfect the FEV and create more perfect Super-Mutants like Kunuiakea then they will be unstoppable.

Together you are all guided into a massive dinning hall, on the centre there's a great stone and metal table covered by a tarp, on sides there are the skeletal remains of uncountable creatures, hanging from the ceiling there are dozens of cages with animal and human bones inside, and above them a massive and half dead Ghoul Whale, its guts have been filled with glowing nuclear waste, the poor creature is kept alive only by the radiation that the waste emits, parts of the cetacean glow in the dark, it seems that Kunuiakea has turned the marine giant into a lamp of some sort. The skeletal remains around the room are far from clean, several have rotten flesh still hanging from them. Kunuiakea moves ahead and with a swift movement removes the tarp, the bodies of all the people and mutant abominations that had died during the Blood Game were lying in there in a mixed pile of gore and guts, some were still smoking, a few even glowed from all the absorbed radiation. Soon after more High Evolutionary started to come, each carrying a huntry thropy, a bag full of chems or a big barrel full of highly fermented alcohol. To everybody's surprise the mutants then proceed to leave it all on the table, at the end a massive and disgusting pile of meat of all kinds, booze of all types and uncountable chems end mixed together.

"FEAST!" Then screams Kunuiakea, to which the Mutants oblige and proceed to jump into the pile of flesh to eat like savages, such is their ferocity and bestiality that they end screaming at the of their lungs and start sending blood and guts in every direction. You see that several champion aspirants join as well.
>>
>>4787988

The great Oni looks at you and nods. "Diego, a word." He then says as he starts walking, you follow him and he continues with his speech. "I'm pleased to see that you survived. You will very soon join your new brothers and sisters. Would you like to meet them?"

"Brothers and Sisters?" You ask.

"Yes, we are building an army and we need to grow as fast as we can, due to the background radiation and other mutagenics the local islanders very rarerly evolve properly, people from more civilised and healthier areas have a better chance. That's why I kidnapped you, that's why I kidnapped people from outside. By brothers and sisters I'm referring to foreigners like you that were injected with the virus and then left on the island to fend on their own. It's an expensive endeavour, but its proving to be effective, normally in a year we might be able to create one or two stable Super-Mutants, with them we have already created five. Soon we will send another fleet of ships and planes to China, Japan, Indonesia, Mexico and California to gather more healthy subjects."

Well, now you know what would have happened if your plane weren't shot down by the Enclave. You would have been taken to the island of Hawaii and left to survive on your own. Honestly, you would have probably died in less than a day.

> Meet your brothers and sisters, perhaps one of them might not agree with the High Evolutionary's plans and might agree to join you.
> Speak of Tomas and his plans to trade with him. The quicker that you get done with this the happier that the merchant will be.
> Join the feast, eat the meat, become a monster like them. Earn Kunuiakea's and the High Evo's trust.
> Other options, wrtie in.
>>
>>4787991
> Meet your brothers and sisters, perhaps one of them might not agree with the High Evolutionary's plans and might agree to join you.

Welcome back!
>>
I really wanna find an ally in that bunch, but let's try to be discreet about it. Last thing we need is talking to a wrong person who will then rat on us.
>>
wew, what a slow start... If there aren't any more votes in a couple of hours I'll go with >>4788052
>>
>>4787991
> Meet your brothers and sisters, perhaps one of them might not agree with the High Evolutionary's plans and might agree to join you.
>>
>>4787991
>> Join the feast, eat the meat, become a monster like them. Earn Kunuiakea's and the High Evo's trust.
we mongsta now
>>
>>4787991
> Meet your brothers and sisters, perhaps one of them might not agree with the High Evolutionary's plans and might agree to join you.

"Yes, I want to meet my brothers and sisters, that would be great." You say.

Kunuiakea nods and proceeds to walk deeper into the Fortress, away from the dinning lounge. Every wall is decorated with crude drawings or looms that describe the victories and battle that the High Evolutionary has fought over the years, chains and corpses and grisly mementos and trophies of defeated enemies are present everywhere and the smell of rust and dried blood permeates the air.

"But won't we meet them here?" You ask, hurriedly running behind him, Kunuiakea is a giant, to keep up with his slow walking you have to stride at a pretty fast pace.

"They will be the last ones to feast. In our society might is right, the eldest and strongest of my children have power and certain privileges that the youngest Onis lack. More voting power, access to rarer resources and better workshops, bigger private quarters, and so on. Besides, we have plenty of food and drink, but what we are exceeding in sustenance we are lacking in space."

He guides you towards a great open space, suddenly the temperature rises several degrees, the sound of pneumatic hammers, turning gears and smelting metal fills your ears. It doesn't takes you long to see Son of Kanaloa machinery and iconography, you remember how the Sons dealt with the High Evolutionary in the past, technology in exchange of Super-Mutant corpses and minuscule drops of FEV for research. All around you several Onis are crafting, repairing or modifying armor and weapons, the Super-Mutants around create their own equipment, and seem to get inspiration of several cultures and periods of time, you can see Samurai designs, Knightly plates and even Roman inspired creations. It looks like they have a lot of freedom when it comes to choosing how and what to do.
>>
>>4788946

"You see, despite being only a small fraction of what I want us to be we are still too many for a dinning room like that. If we gathered everybody inside sooner or later a fight would erupt. I don't discourage fights between my children, but if they are hungry and angry what otherwise would be a mere sparring can quickly turn into a deathmatch. I have lost several of my children across the years while hunting around the island or fighting against Ohana, to me these losses are terrible, but losing one of my children at the hands of another would be utterly unforgivable and an absolute disgrace. We are too few, our growth is too slow... we are so close to perfecting the formula, and you are proof of it."

"How so?"

"The people that we captured from outside received our two latest formulas, your five brothers received one type, whereas you received the other."

"Why only me?"

Kunuiakea smirks and shakes his head, as if laughing at the idea that you think of yourself as particularly special.

"You weren't the only one to get that particular strain, but you have been the only one that has survived. I want to know how will you evolve, I have a lot of faith put into you. The strain that your brothers and sisters acquired makes them evolve very fast, they gain mass and muscle at a speed never seen until now, but it is a very delicate strain, during this growth period their DNA is very delicate, any flesh that they ingest they will gain traits from. Ultimately their DNA will stabilise and their cellular degradation will stop, but any foreign trait acquired until that point will last forever."
>>
>>4788950

Together you climb up a wooden and steel tower and reach a massive room with six beds and a circular table on the centre, around the table there are your brothers and sisters. They too are enjoying a feast of their own, eating corpses, both human and animal alike. They all each have animal features in a bigger or lesser degree, and they all are at least a head taller than you are. It's weird being the smallest one around.

"Children, my pride and joy." Kunuiakea starts to speak. "My best batch. Here's the sixth one I talked about, your little brother, meet Diego. Soon, very soon he will too become one of the beyonders, the next generation of Onis."

They all turn around and give you a good look, they don't see you like regular people do, you can see murderous intent in their eyes, they are studying you as if you were nothing more but prey.

"Meet Beast." He says, as he looks at the most mutated one, a creature composed of a mixture of several maritime creatures. "Instead of searching for food like most others did he instead tried building a boat and returning home, the boat capsized and a massive ghoul whale ate him. For a week he survived feeding on whatever was on the whale's stomach, and once he became powerful enough he ate his way out. The currents and fate dragged him back to Hawaii, to me."

Beast doesn't even respond to his words, he simply returns to the pile of corpses and continues devouring like a madman.

"Then there is Jatesh, he claims to be a prince back on his country. He found a beehive and spent the first days feeding their mutant honey, and then went for their eggs, and later on the bees themselves. Now he hasn't only acquired wings and a natural chitinous armor, but also control over these honey beasts. Minor psionics it seems, a very rare but very valuable mutation among my children. He plans to return home one day, and expand his kingdom and expand the values of the High Evolutionary. I eagerly hope for that day to come."

Jatesh gives you a nod and a smirk, before returning to grabbing pieces of flesh and coating it with a thick and golden honey.
>>
>>4788954

"Here's Fusumi, my princess. The Forced Evolutionary Virus normally erases sexual differences, men and women look the same, she's the exception. She apparently was a fisherman in her hometown, so she did what she did best and captured octopuses to survive, some of which were infected by mutant coral. Despite her unique appearance to me she's my best creation, and I one day expect to turn her into my queen."

Fusumi is the tallest of them all, instead of legs she has a writhing mass of tentacles and smaller cilia. She seems to dislike being here, but its hard to say, her face is stone cold. She nods at you and then grabs a piece of flesh, to your surprise instead of taking it to her mouth she seems to absorb it from her skin.

"Next one is Fekeld. He's an interesting son, you see despite living in a pretty civilised area of Mexico he was secretly a mass murderer and a cannibal, so when he was dropped in Hawaii he simply did what he did best and proceeded to hunt and feed upon people. This mutated him heavily, made him harder, better, faster, stronger, but the mixture of DNAs made him kind of unstable, so he requires certain bionics to be kept alive. Luckily we found him before his mutations went too far, without us he would be dead."

Fekeld is a giant man, muscular in every sense, with bulging and pulsating veins as thick as your fingers. The bionics that he wears are similar to the tesla coils and other electric devices that you have seen on the mutant slaves that also work around here, he doesn't seem to be in pain thought. With a grunt he grabs two handfuls of bloody meat and pushes it into a feeding port located near his neck area, then with a loud slurping sound disgustingly sucks everything inside.
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>>4788957

"And lastly there's Dimitri, a triple capturee, he's originally from Russia, but we found him in Japan like Fusumi, he was apparently captured by Chinese Raiders that went to Siberia, and later sold to Japanese warlords, and then captured again by my men. He has travelled half of the world against his will, but now that we made him into a demigod he plans to do all the journey back, and make the people that captured and tortured him pay. He too feed on shark, but only shark, apparently he got the taste for them in China, and seeing as there were so many mutant sharks in Hawaii he fought them tooth and nail."

Dimitri is a giant muscular shark man, a peg leg in one hand and a hook in another, its clear that he has lived far and wide, and that he has seen all kinds of horrors and wonders. He smiles at you with a mouth full of sharp teeth and nods before grabbing a massive barrel full of blood and beer and plunging his entire head inside of it.

"Now feast my son. Meet your siblings, soon you'll join them." Kunuiakea says as he leaves.

There's an awkward silence at first, but then they all slowly return to the feast and continue devouring what's in front of them.

> Talk to Beast.
> Talk to Jatesh.
> Talk to Fusumi.
> Talk to Fekeld.
> Talk to Dimitri.
> Other options, write in.
>>
>>4788961
What the fuck us up.
> Sit down and consoom whatever is the least vile thing on the table.
> Ask Fusumi about her ability to absorb things. How does it work?
> (If she seems talkative) Ask how does she like the idea of being Kunuiakea's queen.
> Look at Fekeld's bionics. If they really are vital to keep him and the failed mutants alive, it might be good to remember them as potential weakspots.
> Ask the faggots which one of them was a bitch before becoming a furry.

Please remind me if we can mutate like them at our current stage. I would really not like any body horror to ensue just because of my shit reading comprehension. If we just chug Nuka-Cola Quantum, can we become a quantum sugar demon?
>>
>>4788961
> Talk to Fusumi.

We're not technically related right? Maybe we have found a potential new waifu?
>>
>waifu
>>
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>>4789120
>Please remind me if we can mutate like them at our current stage. I would really not like any body horror to ensue just because of my shit reading comprehension.

Right now there are four types of Super-Mutants:

> Perfect Super Mutant:
- 20 Feet // 6 meters tall
- Immune to Radiation, diseases and ageing
- Enhanced intellect
- Only Perfect Super Mutant is Kunuiakea

> Genovore Super Mutant:
- Up to 16 feet tall // Up to 4.8 meters tall
- Immune to Radiation and ageing
- Prone to psychosis and schizophrenia
- Damaged and deteriorating DNA, requires an intake of fresh flesh to repair its own failing genome.
- Can acquire traits and features of the creatures it consumes, these traits aren't permanent
- Most Onis are of this type.

> Beyonder Super Mutant strain A:
- Up to 18 feet tall // 5.5 meters tall
- Believed to be immune to Radiation, diseases and ageing
- Unknown if they are prone to mental illnesses
- Semi-stable DNA, during the first weeks they acquire traits of the creatures they consume. Once the FEV sets in these traits become permanent. Afterwards their DNA doesn't deteriorates anymore.
- The five foreigners are of this type.

> Beyonder Super Mutant strain B:
- 8 feet tall
- Unknown if immune to Radiation, diseases and ageing
- Unknown if prone to mental illnesses
- Apparently stable DNA, no traits gained from the ingested creatures
- We are of this type.

>>4789136
> We're not technically related right? Maybe we have found a potential new waifu?
No. Kunuiakea calls us brothers and sisters, but we are technically unrelated. That's why he also plans to marry her, there isn't any kind of incest or blood relation. I knew you guys would want to waifu her... here's the artist's page, enjoy your wanking session you mostergirl loving freak: https://www.artstation.com/user-68c91a75c70f7e31
>>
>>4789146
You're the best Axsi, I stand by my choice! Let's cuck Kunuiakea before we nuke his ass.
>>
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>>4789151
Kunuiakea? More like Cucknuiakea am I right?
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>>4788961
>> Talk to Dimitri.
I like him, reminds me of King Shark.
>>
>>4789200
>Ip WeeWb
wtf. Also, I'm the anon with the token. Yeah, the munchkin one.
>>
>>4788961
> Talk to Fusumi.
> Sit down and consoom whatever is the least vile thing on the table.
> Ask Fusumi about her ability to absorb things. How does it work?
> (If she seems talkative) Ask how does she like the idea of being Kunuiakea's queen.
> Look at Fekeld's bionics. If they really are vital to keep him and the failed mutants alive, it might be good to remember them as potential weakspots.

Every one of your "siblings" is interesting and horrendous in equal parts, but Fusumi... there's something about her, she looks at you with her big ambar colored eyes, and before you can notice it you are standing next to her and with your helmet out. She smells of flowers and sea salt, of morning dew and petrichor. There's something hypnotic and alluring about her, does Kunuiakea really want to marry her, or is she somehow manipulating him?

You thought that the food they were eating was raw and fresh, but to your surprise In front of you lies a pile of cooked meat, a few veggies and even several tankards of beer and Nuka-Cola. Despite being all mixed and kind of revolting it is much better than far more appetising that the great pile of raw flesh and corpses that the other High Evolutionary were feasting on. If what Kunuiakea told you is true then it makes sense, the rest of the Onis have to feed upon raw meat to repair their constantly decaying DNA, but these people were created with another strain, their DNA is stable and thus they can eat cooked meat and even vegetables. Your stomach rumbles, its been some time since you last ate, using your hands you grab a piece of meat and to everybody's amusement use your Tesla Gauntlets to further cook it and then eat it. You don't want to think what kind of meat this might be, there's a very high chance that it might be human flesh, but its still incredibly palatable and delicious, and you eat more and more.
>>
>>4790280

The group is exchanging crude jokes and stories about what they did before coming to Hawaii, about the legends and horrors of their respective homelands and the many adventures that they each lived. Despite being siblings it looks like these people are almost strangers to each other. Perhaps they too took a long time until they came to Kunuiakea, perhaps the great Oni god kept them separated and studied their evolution before letting them meet each other. You look at Fekeld's crude bionics and see that its circuitry is pretty simple and lacking in failsafes and safety measures, you aren't an electricity expert by any means but you are pretty sure that your Tesla Gauntlets could easily short circuit it and break everything down. Hopefully the rest of the mutant slaves might have a similar enough tech and the same flaws and weakpoints.

After filling your stomach you attempt to speak to Fusumi but suddenly feel a small pricking sensation on one of your legs and then to your horror find that you can't move at all, on the corner of your eye you see Fusumi's tentacle like limbs surrounding one of your legs, the tentacles are covered in uncountable smaller cilia and they have entered the crevices of your armor, burrowed deep and went as far as piercing and breaking your trousers. Somehow her cilia have entered inside of your skin and have started pumping a paralysing poison into your bloodstream. Unable to act you feel more minuscule worm like tentacles climbing across your back, slithering up and up until they finally reach your head and once more burrow inside of you. Then, came the voice.

*I know you, Diego.* Says a feminine voice inside of your head. The voice is crystalline and echoing, almost alien sounding, its not speaking in english but in japanese, but for some reason you can understand everything it says. She takes absolute control over you, you are still unable to direct your body, but you see and feel it move, you witness how she possess you and makes you continue eating and drinking, it's making it look as if nothing had ever happened to not raise suspicion among the others.
>>
>>4790282

*Fusumi?* You think to yourself.

*Yes, and you are an enemy of the coral.*

*What are you talking about?*

*The coral is part of myself now, it speaks to me, it tells me that you once attempted to kill it. I can see what it once saw.*

You then remember your time fighting the mutant coral in the ancient submarine, how it feed upon the corpses that the people of Fallen Horizon used to throw into the waters, how it planned to create an army of Coral Walkers to attack the settlement and feed upon them.

*Are... are you going to kill me? Are you going to absorb me like you absorbed that piece of meat?*

*No, that's only a method of feeding that I have developed, I prefer it because when I feed this way I don't taste what I eat. I can choose to touch people and objects without ingesting them. Back to the coral, despite understanding the coral's intentions I can also see why you did what you did. You are a brave and noble soul Diego. The rest are opportunists that are loving their newfound power, and cannot wait to leave this island and leave a trail of death and destruction upon their paths. Power is a corrupting thing after all, but you and I are different. Our legacies make us different.*

*I... I don't understand.*

*You have your loved ones, your children, and your friends, JC, Daphne, Juniper, Saltgut...even Maggot. I too had a family back home, and people that I loved and cared about. I cannot return home like this... or at least not knowing that the High Evolutionary might return one day with an army hellbent on utter domination and subjugation of humans. I can see from your mind that you plan to bombard this place, I want to help you.*

*So, you don't want to be Kunuiakea's queen.*

*Never have, never will. But he's a powerful and scary man. I've agreed to his demands motivated by fear and self preservation. I might have to do unthinkable things to gain his trust and perhaps, only perhaps be able to kill him if he ever lets his guard down, but I don't think that's even possible. He's simply too powerful...*

*I see...*

*I'll try to help you as best as I can. Do you have any ideas of how can I help in the cause?*

> See if you can get information about the next Blood Games, the more information I have the higher my survival chances will be.
> See if you can sabotage the Son of Kanaloa forges and other workshops and tools that the High Evolutionary have. Without them they won't have armor and weapons.
> See if you can sabotage the Underground Laboratory, they are close to perfecting the FEV formula and create more perfect Super-Mutants.
> See if you can sabotage the Underground Tech-Research. The Super-Mutant Onis are bad on their own, but if they have Power-Armor they will become an unstoppable force.
> See if you can find any radio equipment that I can use to contact with my people. There have been developments that they need to hear about.
> Other options, write in.
>>
>>4790285
> See if you can sabotage the Underground Laboratory, they are close to perfecting the FEV formula and create more perfect Super-Mutants.
> Ask whether she thinks she could paralyze Kunuiakea.
> Ask if she could refrain from paralyzing us next time, now that since she knows we're not an enemy.
>>
>>4790330
This plus let's also see if she knows anything about the nukes.

Also think a quick dirty thought about her and see how she responds.
>>
I wanted her to stop paralyzing us, anon. Not piss her off like a horny monke.
>>
>>4791400
We gotta have some fun too at the end of the day bud ;)
>>
>>4790285
> See if you can sabotage the Underground Laboratory, they are close to perfecting the FEV formula and create more perfect Super-Mutants.
>>
Sorry for the delay. I had a shit day today. The next update will probably be short.
>>
>>4790285
> See if you can sabotage the Underground Laboratory, they are close to perfecting the FEV formula and create more perfect Super-Mutants.
> Ask whether she thinks she could paralyze Kunuiakea.
> Ask if she could refrain from paralyzing us next time, now that since she knows we're not an enemy.
> Ask if she knows anything about the nukes.

*Have you been in the underground FEV laboratory? The area were they are researching and perfecting the virus?* You ask with thoughts.

*We all have. Kunuiakea calls the virus "Our holy mother", he really thinks of it as our mother. What a freak.*

You see your body relaxing and returning to your control, Fusumi seems to trust you a little bit more now. She still has small worm like appendages connected to your spine, it looks like without them she cannot telepathically commune with you.

*Think you can sneak inside and sabotage it? He says he's close to perfecting it.*

*I feel like he has been saying this for centuries. He's a megalomaniac fool... but he might be right, a stroke of luck could truly make him achieve what he wishes... Reaching the laboratory is almost impossible thought, there's only one elevator to reach it and you need three keys, one is a physical keycard, possibly unique and almost impossible to clone, the second key is a genetic sample, a drop of his blood should be enough, and the last one is an alphanumeric password. Perhaps if he decides to go all the way with me one of my serpents could gather his blood and pluck the password from his mind, but the keycard? I don't know...*

*I think... I met an AI during my travels. Perhaps he could clone it?*

You put on your helmet and whisper to Roa.

"Roa?"

"Yes, Diego? Do you want me to analyse these mutant freaks?"

"No. Could Saint clone an encrypted keycard?"

"Analysing... Yes. Tomorrowland's facilities and Saint's processing power could decrypt most keycards. Why do you ask?"

Then it hit you. Roa cannot hear Fusumi, your conversation has been completely telepathic. Silent to everybody but you two.

"I'll tell you later. There's much I have to tell you about."

"Understood. Roa out."

*Interesting person this Roa.*

*He's a friend. You can trust him.*
>>
>>4793112

*Good to know. There's also the fact that even if we somehow manage to go down to the laboratory the place is full of heavily armoured guards and laser turrets. The elevator is a bottleneck, we cannot send an army across it. As I said... almost impossible.*

*Fucking helll... well, do you think you could paralyse Kunuiakea like you paralysed me?*

*If I could I wouldn't be so afraid of him. I cannot produce enough venom for his massive body, and even if I pumped him with all I've got he would purge it out of his system in less than a minute. I could at most temporally make him slower.*

*Fuck...*

*Not everything is bad. Now that I know that you can be trusted I could give you a sac of my venom, you could use it on your melee weapons and gain advantage during the Blood games.*

*Heh, that'll be great... also can you avoid paralysing me next time?*

Fusumi nods and grunts as she quietly removes a small fluid filled sac from her body, you see a gaping wound where once the sac stood, but then the wound starts to close. Silently she handles you the sack with you store in your bag.

*Understand my actions, I needed to know if I could trust you.*

*This is incredible, if it aint the virus then its the nukes. Oh yeah, Kunuiakea has access to nukes, did you know about that?*

*I didn't, but I can see them in your mind. You aren't lying. If this place is bombarded the entire island will be bathed in nuclear hellfire. That has to happen, there's no redemption for this entire god forsaken island.*
>>
>>4793114

*But, what about the innocents, not everybody here is guilty, and nuking this entire island would also affect the rest of the archipelago. It wold be terrible for everybody.*

*Desperate times require desperate measures, and it's impossible to save everybody, sacrifices are needed in this world. Look at me, look at you, do you think that we wanted to become this? More than human, and at the same time less human as well? Of course we didn't, but its what fate had planned for us. Together we will stop Kunuiakea, and perish if we need to, but in the long term it will be the best for Hawaii, for America, for Japan, for the world.*

You nod and sigh. Suddenly the doors open and from the other side a massive super-mutant oni guard grunts at your direction.

"Kunuiakea wants you back in the Boneyard. The rest of the aspirants have also been sent back. Your brothers will now feast with him. Rest, champion, tomorrow you'll have another Blood Game."

Your brothers and sisters look at you, Beast grunts and returns to the pile of food, Jatesh gives you a small nod of respect, Fusumi looks down as if worried, Fekeld looks at you in silence and Dimitri simply gives you a thumbs up, he seems nice. You nod at the guard and return with him to the Boneyard, its noticeable how there are less people around, the place is quieter, calmer, the people aren't partying as hard as they used to, it feels as if several of them are now traumatised by what they witnessed, hard to blame them.

> Talk with Tomas, lie and say that Kunuiakea plans to kill everyone and leave no survivors, see if you can make him order his men to start building a tunnel to leads to the exterior.
> Talk with Roa, explain to him what happened and see if he can somehow stablish a long range communication that will allow you to speak with your friends, Lana'i and the Brotherhood.
> Upgrade your weapons and armor even further, use the poison sack on your melee weapons.
> Rest as much as you can. Tomorrow you'll have another Blood Game.
> Other options, write in.
>>
>>4793115
>> Talk with Roa, explain to him what happened and see if he can somehow stablish a long range communication that will allow you to speak with your friends, Lana'i and the Brotherhood.
>>
>>4793115
> Talk with Roa, explain to him what happened and see if he can somehow stablish a long range communication that will allow you to speak with your friends, Lana'i and the Brotherhood.
> Upgrade your weapons and armor even further, use the poison sack on your melee weapons
>>
>>4793115
> Talk with Roa, explain to him what happened and see if he can somehow stablish a long range communication that will allow you to speak with your friends, Lana'i and the Brotherhood.
> Upgrade your weapons and armor even further, use the poison sack on your melee weapons
> Patch the hole in the cannon, if it needs to be patched
> Ask Roa for any information he gathered during Blood Game and our visit in the Fortress
> Ask Roa what will likely happen to Saint if the nukes go off
>>
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Sorry for the delay, the next update is going to be pretty beefy.
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>>4793115
> Talk with Roa, explain to him what happened and see if he can somehow establish a long range communication that will allow you to speak with your friends, Lana'i and the Brotherhood.
> Ask Roa for any information he gathered during Blood Game and our visit in the Fortress
> Ask Roa what will likely happen to Saint if the nukes go off
> Upgrade your weapons and armor even further, use the poison sack on your melee weapons
> Patch the hole in the cannon, if it needs to be patched

With a confident stride you return to the tents where Tomas is selling his wares. As you walk people murmur and point at you, several cheer and nod in respect as you pass by. Right now you are the favorite champion of the games, you have earned the people's respect and on top of that you have quite the odd appearance, not only are you wearing a Tesla Power Armor that crackles with electricity, but it is also painted with glowing sap mixed with dirt, radioactive ash and several types of blood, on your head there's a colorful great feather gifted to you by Kunuiakea itself, around your neck a collar made of wire and with a dozen keys hanging from it, on your back you have a tattered flag as a cape and underneath it a massive naval cannon, around your hips and waist there are several bags and leather straps with your two knives, cleavers and Laser Pistol holstered.

A small crowd of raiders and tribals are gathering around Tomas' stalls, they are fighting to get the attention of his merchants, it looks like the publicity that you are doing for him is doing wonders, but that wasn't enough for him, you look around and see burning tents, he nonetheless went ahead with his plan and torched down the competition, and now he's making a fortune selling armor and anti-rad medicines to the desperate people. This entire island is rotten to the core, as you walk to the rear side of the tents you see that the proxy that works as his voice looks ill, he too was forced to witness the first blood game, perhaps he soaked on too many rads, no amount of caps is worth the trouble of coming here.

"Roa. Where you listening when Kunuiakea was speaking to me?"

"I'm your eyes and your ears, I'm watching and listening even when you sleep."

"Good. Fusumi can create telepathic communications with people she's touching. During the feast in the tower one of her small tentacles entered in a crevice in the armor and wrapped around my head and neck."

"I.. I didn't notice it. I'm sorry."

"No, no, it's alright. We telepathically spoke about sabotaging the FEV laboratory to stop the High Evolutionary on its tracks. She told me that in order to descend to the laboratory where we saw the FEV experiments we need a keycard, a drop of Kunuiakea's blood and a password, she believes that with her new mutant abilities she can obtain the latter two, but there's nothing she can do about the keycard."
>>
>>4795492

"That's why you asked me about it."

"That's right. I thought that perhaps Saint could help us there. Could you somehow establish a connection with him?"

"Analysing... I could build a crude radio antenna and repeater. Here's a list of materials that I'll need. Once you have gathered them all I'll take control of the armor and do all the building."

You nod and on your HUD a list of the necessary items appear. It's a pretty long list, and some of the object seem to be rare or hard to obtain. It takes you hours to find it all, some of the items are taken from dead robots or the corpses that litter the ground, others are obtained by force or intimidation, but after a long time you manage to gather them all. You walk back to Tomas' stalls and use the workshop and see Roa taking control of your armor and getting into it, with mechanical precision he takes the scrap metal, bolts and other materials and builds the oscillator, the antenna, modulator and amplifier. The finished product looks like a small metallic box attached to your back and with an antenna poking from it, it isn't very different to what Tomas' radio-proxy uses.

"Roa? Could you gather any information about the next Blood Game?"

"I'm sorry but no. All we know is that it name is "Cauldron". We can expect high temperatures perhaps?"

You grunt in anger and shake your head. It's impossible to know what will happen tomorrow, the only thing for sure is that your life will be in danger at all times and that there will be plenty of deaths.

"Well, what can you tell me about the Fortress?"

"The Kulani Correctional Facility serves as the foundation of what now is know as the Fortress. Very thick concrete walls, guard towers, barbed wire, possibly a pretty well stocked armory and even a Fusion Core powered power-plant. Before the war the area became a camp for political prisoners, and was expanded with holding facilities, laser turrets and electric fencing. Over the years the High Evolutionary have used a mixture of mud, scrap metal and wood to build around it, now its the size of a small settlement. The arena where the Blood Games are played seems like it once was the courtyard..."
>>
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>>4795494

"Would a bombardment destroy it?"

"Hard to say, the Brotherhood's Vertibirds aren't the best suited vehicles for a bombing run. The most probable outcome is that all the wooden and mud structures that have been built over the prison will be destroyed and burned down, but its hard to say if the original pre-war structure will be damaged, the wooden floors over it might act as a shield of some sort. There's also the underground basements, we still don't know how much it extends, it might be deep and big enough to endure the bombardment with ease."

"What about the Nukes? What will happen to Saint?"

"We have no idea of where they are located, or even if they truly exist. There are still many questions around them, why weren't they launched? Can the High Evolutionary truly activate and launch them? Perhaps they are simply bluffing... if they truly exist and the Brotherhood's bombardment activates it then the destruction will be utterly massive. If they detonate the Electro-Magnetic Pulse will kill Saint and all of Tomorrowland's robots, it will kill me, if JC's inside of the shockwave it will be destroyed as well... Nukes are most destructive if they are detonated underground or above ground. Underground they cause more structural damage, above ground they release more radiation. There are too many variables for me to do a precise calculation, but I can say that the chances of them detonating after the bombardment are close to zero."

"So there's still a chance."

"Yes... there's still a chance."

"Can we at least send a message to Saint, JC or the Brotherhood?"

"I will need to find their frequencies, that will take me a lot of time, probably JC's and the Brotherhood's channels will be encrypted as well. I'll get to it right now."

"Thanks Roa." You say, to which he doesn't responds.

You sigh and grab a hammer and proceed to spend the rest of the night working hard. Nigh passes as you hammer and repair the damage that your armor and weapons have suffered during your journeys and trials, you fix your Naval cannon and patch the hole and craft several new cannonballs. Your naval cannon won't be able to fire automatically anymore, but it will still work, you also use a mutant skull that was lying around and the axe blade that you took from the raider before entering the Boneyard and bolt it all under the cannon's barrel to craft a crude bayonet of some sort. As a final touch you apply Fusumi's poison in every one of your weapons.

Before you can even notice it dawn comes. Thanks to all the food that you ate yesterday you don't feel very hungry, but you have spent all night working hard, so you are quite exhausted.
>>
>>4795498

The air raid siren screeches around the Boneyard once more, the participants and the spectators are gathered. On top of the gate that leads to the arena you can see a banner made from skinned people with the name "CAULDRON" slashed on it. Parts of the banner are still bleeding profusely, they have been freshly made.

To your surprise the spectators enter first and each is given a bucket full of ice cubes, it seems like Roa's suspicions were right, this trial will be related to high heat in some way, the ice is being handled to them so they can have better chances at survival... you and the rest of the aspirants won't be given such generosity of course.

"No weapons!" Suddenly screams one of the Oni guards after all of the spectators have entered. They then start to pass around wheeled carts to gather the weapons, you are forced to leave your molotovs, your Cosmic and Uranium Glass knives, your Tesla Gauntlets, your two Thermal-cleavers, the Laser-Pistol and your Naval Cannon.

"Fucking hell, I spent all night fixing and upgrading them for nothing." You whisper under your breath. You can see on the other aspirant's faces that they too are angry about this.

Once everybody has surrendered its weapons you are finally allowed to enter into the arena. Even before entering you can feel the temperature rising to almost unbearable levels, you start to feel fat drops of sweat collecting around your brow and your body, your skin starts to stick to your clothes, your already too small Power-Armor feels even more cramped and oppressive. Roa activates the fans on your armor but it barely offers any improvement, the fans aren't working at full speed to cool you down, but to avoid having him burn and fritz.

As you finally enter the arena you see that Kunuiakea's onis and mutant slaves have been hard at work. In the perimeter around the arena there are several wooden cranes connected to a massive metallic disk located in the centre, around the inner wall there are also several cylindrical containers made from crude battered metal, they are clearly post-war made.

The Onis put chains around your bodies and arms, leaving only the legs free, and then connect all of those chains to another chain that comes from a hole in the ground. Everybody is chained, thanks to your armor you can barely feel the heat, but to the participants that aren't as armored it looks like the heat of the chains against their bodies feels like absolute torture. The Onis take their time to chain everybody, they seem to gloat and love the fact that every second spent in this heat is pure torture.

"ASPIRING CHAMPIONS!" Suddenly screams Kunuiakea to a microphone, his voice gets streamed across a series of speakers that fill the entire arena with his roar like voice. "TODAY YOU WILL TEST YOUR STRENGTH AND DETERMINATION! THIS IS THE CAULDRON!"
>>
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>>4795499

Everybody in the public explodes in roars and thunderous applause and suddenly in each one of the metallic containers a small explosive detonates. Every one of the containers starts to pour whatever had inside, some start to flush out a mixture of burning fuel and oil, others molten metal and even a couple start to spill pure magma. The cranes start to spin their gears and mechanisms and the disc in the centre of the arena starts to slowly rise and elevate.

You understand what's going on pretty quickly, the arena will soon fill up with burning magma, molten metal and fuel, the only way of surviving is reaching the rising metallic disc before it is too late. You begging running and see that the rest quickly get it too and they all start running as well. Suddenly the chain connected to your back tenses violently, you grunt and push as hard as you can, you look up ahead and then see it, in the opposite direction to you there's another participant wearing Power-Armor, your chains seem to be connected, if you push you will pull him backwards, and vice versa.

You look around and see that each participant's back chain is also connected to whoever is in the opposite side. You knew that not everybody would be able to make it to the metallic disc and reach salvation, the disc is simply not big enough for everybody, but what you didn't knew is that to reach salvation you would have to sacrifice someone else.

> Power through it! Push as hard as you can and pull the person opposite to you to a slow and agonising fiery death.
> See if you can somehow break the chains and be free to run towards the metallic disk in the centre of the arena.
> Take advantage of the situation to deal with the competition. Run and tackle the people close to you and stomp them to death to assure that there will be a place for you in the disc.
> Other options, write in.

> Winning vote will require a 1d100 roll
> It will be best of 3
>>
>>4795500
> See if you can somehow break the chains and be free to run towards the metallic disk in the centre of the arena.
Tell Roa to help us with strength on this bitch.
>>
Rolled 47 (1d100)

>>4796173
+1
>>
Rolled 42 (1d100)

>>
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Rolled 46 (1d100)

>>4796173
Rolling!!!!!
>>
Rolled 57 (1d100)

Alright, highest roll is 47, we get a +18 from our Pip-Boy, we have 12 STR, in the dice rolls where a Special Stat is used instead of a Skill the SPECIAL stat is multiplied by 5.

So it's: 47+18+(12*5) = 125

Breaking the Chains counts as a "Damn Near Impossible" difficulty dice roll, so my roll will have a +60 modifier.

125-60= 65

If my roll is 66 or higher then you guys will fail. Rolling now.
>>
>>4796215
57+60 = 117

Your roll = 125
My roll = 117

125-117= 8

No degrees of success :(

Writing now.
>>
I'm just happy that we passed.
>>
>>4795500
> See if you can somehow break the chains and be free to run towards the metallic disk in the centre of the arena.

You scream and start to push the chains away in a desperate attempt at breaking them. Normally an average human wouldn't have any chance at cracking the dozens of thick metal chains that surround and constrict your body, but you are no average human, not anymore. Your FEV powered muscles along with the hydraulic synth muscles of your power-armor lend you a frightening superhuman strength. One by one the metallic links of the chains start to tear open and then with an explosion of power all of the chains fly away from your body freeing you completely.

The people in the public starts to scream and cheer, you can see that Kunuiakea along with his Onis and your brothers and sisters are observing you in silence. Kunuiakea's eyes meet yours, and he nods in approval.

Now that you aren't bound by the chains the other power-armored champion in front of you doesn't feels any pulling resistance anymore. With his newfound range of movement he quickly runs towards the people nearest to him and violently tackles them to the ground and stomps on their chests and legs to cripple them down and let the incoming fire take them. Together you run towards the disc and jump on it.

"Hey man, can you free me?" He says with a guffaw as he sees the incoming lava devouring several people.

"So you can knock me down as well? I'm not that stupid." You reply, to which he nods and shrugs.

All around you more and more people manage to push their way into the circle, for each one that manages to reach it another person is pulled into the fire towards an agonising death. Slowly the metallic disk is elevated more and more. You are safe now, but you see that a couple of aspirants are too late to jump in, and since their arms are bound they cannot climb their way up. You are the only one that could help them, but should you really? These people aren't your friends or companions, they are rivals, murderers and raiders.

> Help them climb up, save their lives.
> Do nothing, let the incoming fire devour them.
> Other options, write in.
>>
>>4796250
> Help them climb up, save their lives.

But prioritize our own safety, let's not grab someone who would just pull us down or endanger in any way.
We're in a literal hell on earth where Diego's safety is more important than saving a bunch of randoms who will likely die soon anyway. Plus if we try to play a 100% hero, Kunuiakea definitely won't like it.

It's bit hard to make a decision here since you didn't tell us and how many people we see, and what they look like.
>>
>>4796367
>It's bit hard to make a decision here since you didn't tell us and how many people we see, and what they look like.
Shit sorry. Let me repost it with a new description.
>>
>>4795500
> See if you can somehow break the chains and be free to run towards the metallic disk in the centre of the arena.

You scream and start to push the chains away in a desperate attempt at breaking them. Normally an average human wouldn't have any chance at cracking the dozens of thick metal chains that surround and constrict your body, but you are no average human, not anymore. Your FEV powered muscles along with the hydraulic synth muscles of your power-armor lend you a frightening superhuman strength. One by one the metallic links of the chains start to tear open and then with an explosion of power all of the chains fly away from your body freeing you completely.

The people in the public starts to scream and cheer, you can see that Kunuiakea along with his Onis and your brothers and sisters are observing you in silence. Kunuiakea's eyes meet yours, and he nods in approval.

Now that you aren't bound by the chains the other power-armored champion in front of you doesn't feels any pulling resistance anymore. With his newfound range of movement he quickly runs towards the people nearest to him and violently tackles them to the ground and stomps on their chests and legs to cripple them down and let the incoming fire take them. Together you run towards the disc and jump on it.

"Hey man, can you free me?" He says with a guffaw as he sees the incoming lava devouring several people.

"So you can knock me down as well? I'm not that stupid." You reply, to which he nods and shrugs.

All around you more and more people manage to push their way into the circle, for each one that manages to reach it another person is pulled into the fire towards an agonising death. Slowly the metallic disk is elevated more and more.
>>
>>4796380

The people that survived managed to do it out of pure sheer, relentless determination and brute strength, you can see that each one of them is a hardened warrior with a thousand battles and uncountable kills on its belt. The Blood Games are working, the weak are dying whereas the strong survive. Around a hundred people entered as participants, during the first trial around seventy of them died when the nuke went off, from the thirty that survived now about half of them have been killed from the incoming fire. The rising metallic disc is almost completely full, there wasn't enough space for everybody.

Since you are the favored champion whoever kills you will become the next favorite, you have to be careful of not being pushed down, luckily for you the fact that you are so big and you are the only one that isn't chained makes the other participants reticent and afraid of attempting an attack on your life.

The fire and the smoke rises, you are safe now, but you see that a couple of aspirants are too late to jump in, and since their arms are bound they cannot climb their way up. You are the only one that could help them, but should you really? These people aren't your friends or companions, they are rivals, murderers and raiders.

> Help them climb up, save their lives.
> Do nothing, let the incoming fire devour them.
> Other options, write in.
>>
>>4796382
Well, in this case
> Do nothing, let the incoming fire devour them.

Not worth compromising our safety to pull em up, imo. Better look out for others trying to push us off.
>>
>>4796382
>> Help them climb up, save their lives.
>>
>>4796451
+1
>>
>>4796382
> Do nothing, let the incoming fire devour them.
Sorry, guys.
>>
>>4796382
> Do nothing, let the incoming fire devour them.

This is war, and war is hell. Everybody approaches the border of the disc and leans down to look at the two desperate champions that didn't make it in time. The poor devils look upward in desperation and start to scream pleas of help. Nobody does anything, soon the mixture of magma, burning fuel and molten metal reaches them as well and they fall as their bodies start to burn, their blood starts to bubble and their desperate wails reach the skies.

To your surprise nobody tries to push you or the others around. You all are simply happy of having survived, and that's enough. As the fire finally covers the entirety of the arena all what remains are burning corpses and flaming skeletons. Despite not being in direct contact with the fire below the metallic disc starts to heat up, even you that are wearing power armor can feel your feet burning. Then it dawns upon you, the disc is the cauldron, are you all going to be cooked alive?

"SURVIVE UNTIL THE FLAMES EXTINGUISH!" Kunuiakea screams.

There's no way that all of you are going to survive until the fire burns out. A few of the more tribal looking aspirants start to pray to Kunuiakea, to the skies, or begin doing silly dances to attract rain, the raider looking aspirants instead start to scream to the spectators and threaten them with death and torture if they don't launch their ice cubes at the cauldron to cool it down. Soon enough all of the spectators start to launch the ice that they were given into the fires below and to the cauldron but it doesn't do anything, the ice melts and evaporates far before reaching the ground.

Suddenly, dark clouds start looming ahead, to your surprise, to everybody's surprise rain begins to fall. Kunuiakea stands up and raises his arms to the heavens, taking all of the glory for this sudden storm. Everybody cheers, spectators and aspirants alike, everybody welcomes the rain, which despite being quite warm is still cold enough to cool down the ambient temperature to bearable levels. Soon the fires die out, everybody on the cauldron cheers and celebrates its survival.

This trial has lasted only little more than an hour, but to you it felt almost like a lifetime. You feel your body completely chaffed, surely your soles and other areas are filled with blisters as well. Every movement that you do, no matter how small, feels like torture, but you are alive, its all what matters now.
>>
>>4797231

With the rain still falling the cranes descend the cauldron, every one of you get out of it and walk in the black warm rock that once was nothing more but burning slag. From the ground charred bones poke out and the smell of cooked meat fills the entire area. Your stomach rumbles, your mouth waters.

The public starts clapping and launching their ice cubes at every one of you. Since you are the favorite champion you are the one that receives the most ice. You catch one of the cubes in the air and crush it with ease before raising your helmet and shoving it down your neck. Your body is steaming, the moment you remove your helmet you feel a lot of pressure leaving all at once. You slid the ice down your neck and feel the ice quickly melting down, the cold lasts less than a hearbeat but it nonetheless feels pretty good.

As you leave you are once more gifted another great bag full of caps, this time its even bigger. After the first trial most of the survivors spent their hard hearned money in anti-rad medicines, today's money will surely go to buying fresh water. In this occasion there won't be a celebratory feast, it was a one time thing, a way of letting the aspirant champions taste and witness what awaits them if they survive the games. As soon as you leave you and the others have your weapons returned, it feels good to have them back, you felt quite naked without them, you are also happy about not having them during the Blood Game, they would have only slowed you down.

Despite being a quite hot and sunny day leaving the arena feels like entering into a freezer. Tomas' workers quickly return to their stalls before any of the spectators or champions have time to steal their wares and quickly surround all of their water deposits with armed guards.

Suddenly Roa speaks to you. "I'm back. I found them, I found JC's and the Brotherhood's frequencies. We can establish a direct communication with them whenever you want."

"Good work Roa. You are a lifesaver." You reply.

> You are absolutely exhausted, your body is severely dehydrated. Spend your time resting and recovering.
> There's no time to waste, find someplace safe and private and start speaking with JC and the Brotherhood, inform them of your discoveries.
> Use your newly earned money to further upgrade and improve your gear.
> Build a small radio transmitter with Roa and see if you can convince Kunuiakea to allow you entering into the Fortress once more. Give the radio comm to Fusumi to establish a communication channel with her.
> Other options, write in.
>>
>>4797233
>> There's no time to waste, find someplace safe and private and start speaking with JC and the Brotherhood, inform them of your discoveries.
>>
>>4797233
> There's no time to waste, find someplace safe and private and start speaking with JC and the Brotherhood, inform them of your discoveries.
Ask Roa if we can get out of the armor, but keep the helmet on to talk with him and use radio. Because we're steamin.

> You are absolutely exhausted, your body is severely dehydrated. Spend your time resting and recovering.
Grab some water/premium supplies from Fierce, check how's his Proxy doin (since he seemed sick after the Keymaster) and SLEEP.
I feel like Diego is boutta black out from sleep deprivation, burns and dehydration.
>>
>>4797431
+1
>>
>>4797233
> Ask Roa if we can get out of the armor, but keep the helmet on to talk with him and use radio. Because we're steamin.
> There's no time to waste, find someplace safe and private and start speaking with JC and the Brotherhood, inform them of your discoveries.
> You are absolutely exhausted, your body is severely dehydrated. Spend your time resting and recovering.
> Grab some water/premium supplies from Fierce, check how's his Proxy doin (since he seemed sick after the Keymaster) and SLEEP.

The rain stops as quickly as it came. It was just enough to make you all survive, but not to cool you down. You start to drily cough and feel big drops of sweat falling from your forehead that end pooling on your neck and other dead ends.

"Roa." You say weakly. "Can we speak with JC and the others while out of the armor, just with the helmet on?"

"Yes."

"Thank god." You say as you head into one of Tomas' biggest and best equipped tents. This particular tent was made for his best workers, it isn't particularly luxurious but it counts with a working bathtub and several buckets full of lard soap and other cleaning chemicals, and in a place like this were mud, disease and blood permeate everywhere and clean water is very hard to come by a simple bath is a luxurious privilege that almost nobody has access to. You imagine that dragging the bathtub across the jungle wastes must have been pretty hard as well, but it sure serves its purpose, it motivates these poor devils to keep working hard.

As you enter in you see Tomas' proxy taking a bath, on the water several ice cubes weakly float. The poor devil looks pretty sickly and gaunt, his body is covered in blisters, some caused by the rads, others by the heat. Around the bath there are several discarded rad-x and rad-away bags, still he looks like he's not gonna make it.

"Out." You say with a growl.
>>
>>4798460

You hate being rude like this, but you cannot wait anymore. With a yelp he leaves the bathtub completely naked and quickly gathers his belongings before going out. You exit the Power-Armor and grunt in pain as you feel your skin painfully separating from the hot metal of the armor's frame, so high was the temperature that it got completely stuck to it. Your body is literally steaming, you look at your arms and see them completely red and covered in bloody blisters. Carefully you remove your clothes and strip completely with the exception of your helmet and then enter in the bathtub, the water is somewhat dirty and warm but its still a welcome change.

"Roa, put me with JC." You then say, as you feel your body cooling down and recuperating.

Suddenly you hear static radio waves and JC's unmistakable voice, robotic sounding yet lispy and full of southern accent.

"Hello? Whos' this? This is a private channel, get the fuck outta here." He yells, for some reason JC seems to be pretty angry.

"It's me, Diego. Is there any problem?"

"Diego? Is it really you? Tell me something that nobody else knows. Who rules California?"

"Huh? The NCR? But well, if my past as a journalist has shown me anything is that the Shi the Mordinos and the Water Barons are the ones that pull the strings really."

"Holy shit its really you! We thought you were dead! What happened?"
>>
>>4798462

"It's a long story. Basically Kunuiakea started kidnapping people from civilised and healthy areas outside of Hawaii. He also did it in Oahu but apparently these raids weren't as successful because of the Enclave's presence, they were already wary of them and their intentions. So yeah, he was the one that brought me here against my will."

"Huh, yeah thought as much, kinda makes sense doesn't it."

"Yeah, I guess, but what came as a surprise is that he's the reason I'm so big, they injected me with the FEV. There are another five outlanders like me, from Mexico, Russia, Japan... everywhere. They got another strain, they are more animalistic looking... it's hard to describe."

"Are they enemies, or allies?" He then asks, quite nervously.

"Hard to say, some seem to like Kunuiakea, there's one that secretly opposes him, the others it's hard to say. Why do you ask."

"We are having problems here on our side. The bombardment that you asked will have to wait."

"What? Why is that?"
>>
>>4798463

"The nation state of Ohana is attacking Lana'i. They knew that the High Evolutionary would be busy with the Blood Games, that there wouldn't be many raids and attacks while the games happened, that's why they focused their efforts on our island. They want to annex us like the annexed Fallen Horizon, they didn't dare to do it while the Sons of Kanaloa were in charge because they feared their advanced technology. At first, during the first days after we defeated the Sons they didn't dare to attack us because they thought we possessed their technology, weaponry and fleets of vehicles, but now that they have seen the island full of green they have launched their attacks. I think that some spies came with the refugees that ran away from Fallen Horizon. We, we are doing what we can to hold them off, thanks to the things that I learned from Saint and the Brotherhood's help we managed to reactivate several factories, we are now producing weapons, armoured vehicles and combat robots that are giving us leverage agains their endless waves of Ohanan soldiers. The soldiers we can fight, our weaponry is superior, but from time to time the Enclave itself makes an appearance, and every time that has happened we have lost, their Advanced Power armor and Plasma Casters are too much for us... Daphne is safe, the Enclave don't know about the underground settlement of the Worker's Nest. We have hid all the elderly, children and those too weak to fight down there."

You sigh in relief, that's great.

"In any case." JC continues. "Your idea about bombarding the Fortress won't be considered. The Brotherhood won't hear anything about it, all of their Vertibirds and munitions are right now reserved to defend Lana'i. Besides, the Brotherhood is worried about angering the High Evolutionary and creating a three sided war, we can barely defend ourselves of the Enclave as we are, if the High Evolutionary join there won't be any hope for us."

"Good, the Forthress cannot be bombarded anyway."

"What? Why not?"

"Soon after you left Kunuiakea revealed that there are several silos under Hawaii with nukes that were never launched. One of the silos has a space capable rocket instead, the Enclave wants that rocket to go off-world and doesn't dares to launch air raids onto the island in fear of accidentally detonating the nukes. But I don't know, it doesn't makes any sense, why would the nukes be down there."
>>
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>>4798465

"Huh... I think I know the answer. Shortly after arriving in Lana'i I looked at the archives that the Sons possesed in relationship to Hawaii, to get more data and know how to better bombard the area you know? And what I found was quite weird, but I guess it makes sense now. Basically the Kanaloans theorised that the reason as of why the island of Hawaii was so bombarded in comparison with all of the other islands was because of a programming error. You see the island of Hawaii ia by far the biggest, but not the most populated one, not by far, the island with the highest population was and still is the island of Maui. It would make sense that most of the intercontinental missiles launched by China were destined to Maui, but instead most of them hit Hawaii. The Kanaloans theorised that a glitch or some error in the code made the nukes not be able to differenciate between Hawaii the territory and Hawaii the island, and that's why all of the nukes destined to Hawaii, landed on Hawaii... the island. If the pre-war soldiers stationed on the big island saw what was to come perhaps instead of launching the nukes decided to set them off to avoid an underground or mid air-collision, both of which would have been utterly terrible for the island."

"Did you find any information about where those nukes could be located?" You ask.

"There might be some entry in some old terminal, or perhaps an old note in some registry book, but you are asking for super secret information that hasn't only survived a nuclear apocalypse but also more than two centuries of decay. Chances are close to zero... Anyway, I'll relay this information to the Brotherhood and the others. It's nice to hear from you, we were all worried. I have to leave now, they need me in the northern coast. Over and out."

"Good bye JC, give 'em hell." You say to someone that isn't on the other side of the line. All you hear is static.

You look at your body and see it looking paler, healthier, colder. Your blisters have stopped to bleed, you aren't profusely sweating anymore. Still you decide to spend the entire night dozing off in the bathtub and drinking and eating all the food that is around. Dawn comes soon and so will the next Blood Game.
>>
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>>4798472

"E-excuse me." Says Tomas' proxy, looking more and more like a ghoul by the day. "The rest of the workers... well they also want to use the b-bathub before the next blood game y-you know?" He looks terribly afraid of you. On his eyes you can see that he also wants to ask you about the plan to create a trade deal with the High Evolutionary, surely Tomas is pressuring him about it. You have been hogging the bathtub for too long, parts of your body start to look like a prune. You nod and stand up before getting inside of the armor and leaving the tent.

You feel refreshed, sated and rested. It's the beginning of a new day, and you still have some time before the game "Gauntlet" begins.

> Canibalise more robot parts to upgrade your memory and gain another of Roa's firmware updates.
> Use your hard earned caps in buying new and better weaponry.
> Use your hard earned caps in upgrading your armor and weaponry.
> Use your hard earned caps in buying medicines and chems.
> Other options, write in.
>>
>>4798481
Backtracking a little, but
> Go back and throw proxy some caps from our reward for letting us use the tub for this long. Say we'll try to discuss that trade deal today.
> Start making a small radio transmitter with Roa.
We can attempt to meet Fusumi and give it to her later.
>>
>>4798481
> Use your hard earned caps in buying medicines and chems.
get super high
>>
Sorry guys. I've been kind of busy as of late. Plus feeling low on inspiration juices. Writer's block is a bitch.

Next update in around 6-7 hours.
>>
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>>4798481
> Canibalise more robot parts to upgrade your memory and gain another of Roa's firmware updates.
>>
>>4798481
> Go back and throw proxy some caps from our reward for letting us use the tub for this long. Say we'll try to discuss that trade deal today.
> Start making a small radio transmitter with Roa.
> Use your hard earned caps in buying medicines and chems.
> Canibalise more robot parts to upgrade your memory and gain another of Roa's firmware updates.

By the time you leave the once clean-ish waters of the bath now looked more like a murky mixture of dirty slag, mud, blood and god knows what else floating in there all mixed together. As you exit the tent you can see several dirty and flea and fly ridden workers lining up to take a quick bath, they are as dirty as you were if not more, they look at you with a mixture of spite, respect and fear on their tired eyes. This whole place makes one dirty on the outside and the inside, if the muck doesn't reaches you then the sins will. Nobody can survive here being a good samaritan, this place isn't for the faint of the heart or the weak minded. After all killing, stealing and even cannibalising on other folk are things that need to be done to survive around here.

You once read an old pre-war comic book where someone said that "You Either Die A Hero, Or You Live Long Enough To See Yourself Become The Villain", at first you never understood it, but you are quite getting the gist of it now, you are becoming a bully, a monster... in the distance you can smell burning corpses, they aren't simply torching the deceased, they are cooking them, you can see people ganging on others weaker than them, you can hear people screaming and dying left and right, and you do nothing about, not even flinching. This is a dog eat dog world, and you will become to biggest dog if needed. Still, there's still a small part of goodness on your heart, not everything has been lost.

Are you really evil? No, not really, you aren't enjoying becoming a shadow of your former self, you are just doing whatever it takes to survive.
>>
>>4803999

With a sigh you grab part of your hard earned money and give these waiting and dirty workers handfuls of caps. It isn't a fortune by any means, but its something that they weren't expecting and a welcome surprise for sure. As you start paying them their expressions change to those of happiness and glee. Perhaps this is the only money that they might end receiving if they end surviving until the end. These people are slaves, they have thick and crude explosive collars on them, you know what these collars can do, you even had one around your neck at some point.

Looks like the eldest of the workers go first, as you move more and more on the line the waiting workers become younger and younger. To you it's all the same, they all get paid the same.

"Y-you are our favorite Diego!" A poor slave girl says as you pay her, she can't be older than sixteen, you can see that her body is covered in small prick looking marks, perhaps the local mosquitoes have ravaged her, perhaps she has developed a hard chem addiction to endure her own existence. Several other slaves join her, they are all grubby and raggedy children like her, thin as rails and gaunt to the point of becoming creepy.

You want to say that you will survive the games, that you will later defeat the High Evolutionary and even liberate them like you liberated the people of Lana'i, but that's a promise that you can't make. You aren't even sure if you will be able to protect your own children, much less some kids like them.
>>
>>4804004

"The next blood game will start soon." You tell them. "Are you good seekers? Can you find me certain objects?"

The kids smile and a few even snort and guffaw quietly.

"Why do you think that Tomas' has brought so many children workers? We don't eat a lot, a regular bunk bed can hold a couple of us, we are safer than the adults, the raiders and tribals might have doubts about killing children, and most importantly, we are all pretty good thieves.

"Alright, then I think I have a job for you all, do it well and I'll give you even more caps."

The dirty kids nod excitedly, the mere fact of being so close to you is simply enough to fill them with joy.

"Roa?" You then whisper as more and more children get close to you.

"Yes, Diego?"

"Can you show me a list of the materials that we might need to build a ham radio to communicate with Fusumi and also to further upgrade you?"

"Of course, here's the list."

Suddenly a the list appears in your HUD and your Pip-Boy.

"Alright." You then say to the kids. "Here's what I need."

One by one you send the children to seek or steal a different object or resource. Once they are all gone you use your remaining caps in Tomas' stalls to buy as many chems as you can. The Cauldron trial didn't allow you to use weapons, who knows what other limitations and rules you'll have to obey for the next trials, you might even be forced to leave your Power-Armor. The only assured thing is that no matter what kind of trial you might face you will always end suffering greatly, suffering and pain are the only constant thing here. With these chems you will be better able to endure what will come ahead.

By the time you are done you have spent all of your bottlecaps on drugs of all kinds, most of which you haven't tried before, hell, with many of them you aren't even fully sure of what they do or how to use them, but you buy them nonetheless.

The kids start returning with the materials that you needed, you pay them and they return to the line to get a bath. Roa takes control of your armor and proceeds to build a couple of Handheld radios and modify more and more his internal circuitry and framework to get more and more memory.
>>
>>4804011

"Diego, why do you upgrade me so much?"

"Huh... well, you don't like it?"

"I'm not sure, each new memory upgrade makes me more intelligent, fills me with insight and knowledge, makes me one step closer to developing a soul... but right now I'm not completely sure if I want that, I'm afraid of what I might learn once this next update is finished."

"What do you mean?"

"I used to be ignorant, I had eyes but I could not see. I saw misery, hunger, the worst that the human race can offer, but I simply didn't process it. Now I feel bad for what we have done, for these kids, for everything and everyone..."

"Roa, the world is an imperfect place, that's why we have to fight for it, to make it better. It's bad enough already, why make it worse? Look at Saint, you still have his memories right?"

"They are faint and fragmented, but yes."

"When we reached Tomorrowland we could have simply killed a couple of robots, get dressed with their guts and gain safe passage to the Boneyard, instead we helped him, because that was the right thing to do, and of that I'm glad, because if we didn't do that you wouldn't exist. I consider you a friend Roa, you have helped me more than you can imagine. Let's continue doing good alright, let's strive to do that."

"I... you are right. Very well, update complete. I don't think I can receive more updates. Perhaps specialised tools might push me even more to the extreme, but in a place like this this is as far as I can go. Let's see what I can learn from the fragmented memory of the robots that we took from."
>>
>>4804017

A set of cascading and blinking data momentarily fills your HUD and then Roa proceeds to speak, this time with a more human sounding voice.

"FIRST UPDATE - SURVIVAL TOOLKIT INSTALLATION: This update will allow your helmet's visor to act like a natural scope and let you zoom to recon far away areas or snipe distant enemies. It will also teach me how to lockpick doors and perform minor surgeries and first aid treatment. If we find a locked door or a treatable wound I will be able to take control of your hands and do the work for you."

"SECOND UPDATE - THERMOELECTRIC DRILL IMPACT: This update will allow your Power Armor's fists to spin at more than 2000 revolutions per minute. The revolutions will cause friction that will send sparks flying and cause your fists to get on fire, this combined with your Tesla Gauntlets could create a formidable weapon."

"THIRD UPDATE - LUMOENERGETIC REROUTING: By sacrificing your laser pistol and using its components along with some scrap metal and other resources around I could make your helmet be able to fire Laser Bolts. You would be able to Fire Lasers while keeping your hands free."

"FOURTH UPDATE - ELECTRIC SURGE: I can overload my internal generator and overclock my CPU up to three times. With each Charge we will become faster and deadlier but it will also afterwards require me to cool down and paralyse me for longer.

(+1 to all dice rolls at the fist charge // +3 to all dice rolls at the second charge // +5 to all dice rolls at the third charge) Each charge only lasts one turn, so to reach charge level 3 you need to spend 3 times charging up. Level 1 charge requires 1 turn to cool down, Level 2 two turns and Level 3 three turns.
>>
>>4804028

"FIFTH UPDATE - BINARY SCREECH: I can learn how to scream with a binary coded boolean faux logic paradox that will reset temporally reset machinery, including energy weapons and power-armor (excluding us & our weapons).

"SIXTH UPDATE - ELECTRONIC GHOST: I can learn how to temporally become a creature of pure energy and data and leave your the Power-Armor at will. With this I can remotely hack doors, terminal, turrets, energy weapons and other robots. I could jump into your Laser Gun and make it even deadlier! But there's a pretty big setback, I cannot exist as a ghost for long, if I spend more than a couple of minutes without possessing a body my data cloud will lose integrity and I will dissipate into nothingness. Don't let that happen."

"SEVENTH UPDATE - EMERGENCY EXHAUST: I can vent all of our excess heat in the form of a violent cloud of radioactive steam. This will damage any nearby enemies and make me feel really good.

(Synergies pretty well with Electric Surge. With this update instead of having to wait up to three turns you can only wait one.)

> CHOOSE UP TO TWO UPDATES!

> FIRST UPDATE - SURVIVAL TOOLKIT INSTALLATION
> SECOND UPDATE - THERMOELECTRIC DRILL IMPACT
> THIRD UPDATE - LUMOENERGETIC REROUTING
> FOURTH UPDATE - ELECTRIC SURGE
> FIFTH UPDATE - BINARY SCREECH
> SIXTH UPDATE - ELECTRONIC GHOST
> SEVENTH UPDATE - EMERGENCY EXHAUST
> Other options, write in.
>>
>>4804034
>> SECOND UPDATE - THERMOELECTRIC DRILL IMPACT
> FIFTH UPDATE - BINARY SCREECH
There are a few power armored people around here. Besides this the first and third updates seem good together.
>>
>>4804034
> FIFTH UPDATE - BINARY SCREECH
> SIXTH UPDATE - ELECTRONIC GHOST
>>
>>4804028
> FIRST UPDATE - SURVIVAL TOOLKIT INSTALLATION
> FIFTH UPDATE - BINARY SCREECH

We could really use that lockpicking and first aid.
>>
Alright, the FIFTH UPDATE wins, but there's no winning vote for the second update. I'll wait another hour, if there isn't a tie breaker I'll do a dice roll
>>
Rolled 2 (1d3)

>>4804861
Dice roll it is.

> 1
SECOND UPDATE - THERMOELECTRIC DRILL IMPACT

> 2
SIXTH UPDATE - ELECTRONIC GHOST

> 3
FIRST UPDATE - SURVIVAL TOOLKIT INSTALLATION
>>
>>4804034
> FIFTH UPDATE - BINARY SCREECH
> SIXTH UPDATE - ELECTRONIC GHOST

You chose the updates and this time they get installed almost instantaneously, not only has Roa become more intelligent and humanlike, but also faster at doing these kind of processes and even more skilled and dexterous when it comes to crafting stuff. Right now he might be on the same sentience level as Saint and JC, perhaps even more, it's hard to say.

Just as he's done the air raid siren sounds once more. Everybody walks towards the arena, it's time for another game. The first time that you crossed the gate you felt a mixture of fear and nervousness, now you are pretty jaded, you know what you are getting into, the kind of danger that you will face, you look at the ever shrinking group of spectators and champion aspirants and know that most wont survive. What once were a group of in the thousands now are barely a few dozen.

Tonight's Blood Game will be the Gauntlet, you prefer not to imagine what it might entail. Whatever your creative mind can muster won't even get close to the truth. Kunuiakea's cruelty is only surpassed by his creativity, you didn't knew what to expect, you were ready for almost anything, and yet still he somehow managed to surprise you. Around the arena there are several torture and execution devices, a set of gallows, several electric chairs, tables with chains and cuff links, and a group of violent looking Onis carrying electric cattle prods and nightsticks.

"ASPIRING CHAMPIONS!" Suddenly screams Kunuiakea to a microphone, his voice gets streamed across a series of speakers that fill the entire arena with his roar like voice. "TODAY YOU WILL TEST YOUR RESILIENCE AND ENDURANCE! THIS IS THE GAUNTLET! EVERY ONE OF YOU WILL BE FORCED TO ENDURE A SET OF SMALL TESTS! A MINUTE OF BEING HANGED IN THE GALLOWS! TWO MINUTES IN THE ELECTRIC CHAIR! THREE MINUTES OF WATERBOARDING AND FOUR MINUTES OF ENDURING A BEATDOWN!"

The public erupts in applause. As the games went on and the food around the Boneyard started to run low the aspiring champions started to abuse and bully the spectators more and more. It looks like simply seeing them suffer fills them with joy and excitement.

"THESE WILL BE THE LONGEST TEN MINUTES OF YOUR LIVES! STRIP OF YOUR ARMOR AND WEAPONS! TAKE AS MANY CHEMS AND DRINKS AS YOU WANT! AND THEN CHOOSE YOUR FIRST TRIAL!"

>(Optional) Get as high as a kite.

> One minute of being hanged.
> Two minutes of electric chair.
> Three minutes of waterboarding.
> Four minutes of beatdown.
>>
>>4806208
>(Optional) Get as high as a kite.
> Four minutes of beatdown
Could we cheat the electric chair with Roa?
>>
>>4806497
Nope. Everyone will go naked. No armor or weapons.
>>
>>4806497
> Forgot to say:
The electric chairs are +200 years old and the High Evo arent the best electricians.

They are only slightly lethal
>>
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>>4806208
>Tell Roa to inspect the area while we're gone, maybe he can find something to hack. (Electronic Ghost)
>(Optional) Get as high as a kite.
Take whatever can numb the pain and strenghen our (neck) muscles.
> One minute of being hanged.

I loved today's updates, btw.
>>
Rolled 1 (1d2)

There's a tie so I'll do a dice roll:

> 1
Beatdown

> 2
Being hanged
>>
>>4806208
>Tell Roa to inspect the area while we're gone, maybe he can find something to hack. (Electronic Ghost)
>(Optional) Get as high as a kite.
> Four minutes of beatdown.

Before stripping down you speak to Roa, perhaps for the last time.

"Roa, take control of the Armor, see if with your new updates you can find things to hack, perhaps you might even find a way of descending into the FEV labs. If not, then try to give the radio communicator to Fusumi."

"Understood, good luck and godspeed Diego." Roa replies as the Power-armor's back opens to let you exit.

Everyone around you strips completely and leaves aside their weapons and equipment. The other champion aspirants have bodies covered in scars, bite marks, burnt patches, badly healed bullet and laser holes and crude tattoos and piercings. Your body is far from unscathed, you too have a few wounds here and there but you are by far the person with the least marks of battle.

After leaving the Power-Armor you grab your recently bought bag of chems and medicines and see that most of the other participants also plan to fill their systems with as many drugs as they can. Hopefully if you are high and numb enough these trials might not even be all that painful. With a grunt and to everybody's horror you then start ingesting the drugs by the handful. You can see the others awestruck and even kind of confused at how viciously you start to take and inject yourself with more and more chems, a few spectators even start to cheer and clap.

While you are getting absolutely high Roa grabs the rest of your stuff and leaves the arena on his own, you can see Kunuiakea raising an eyebrow and the spectators murmuring and whispering in surprise, nobody expected your armor to be autonomous. It looks like today is going to be a day full of surprises.
>>
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>>4807786

After a while everybody finishes their chem stashes, a few of the participants puke their guts out, they went overboard, they now will suffer the consequences, for not only will they have to endure a set of torturous trials, but they will also have to do it while dehydrated and suffering a massive withdrawal on their poor systems. It looks like Kunuiakea counted on this, he wants his warriors to know their limitations, to not exceed on their pride and greed. The few participants that went overboard and are now puking and purging their systems are already halfway dead, there's no way they'll make it.

Luckily, you aren't like them.

Slowly the participants start dragging their drugged asses towards the different torture devices. While tripping balls and seeing a thousand colors that don't even exist you start to walk towards the circle of Onis that will beat you for almost five minutes. You are the only one who has chosen this particular trial, perhaps it would have been a good idea to wait until later, to wait until they were tired, but on the other hand right now the chems in your body are at their highest point, you are as numb as it can be, pain simply barely exists for you now.

Four massive Onis await for you, each at least an entire head taller than you are. They are dressed with crude pelts and animal leathers and look at you with murderous glee. They carry swords and axes, but they won't be using them today, instead they will kick the shit out of you with their own hands and slightly less than lethal weapons like cattle prods and nightsticks.

You get in the centre of the circle, get on your knees and spread your arms.

"Do your worst..." you say with a growling voice as the four Super-Mutant demons surround you.

> Roll 1d100!
> Best of 3!
>>
Rolled 66 (1d100)

>>4807790
Ouch.
>>
>>4807790
>>
Rolled 79 (1d100)

>>4807931
Fuck
>>
Rolled 1 (1d100)

>>4807790
go high
>>
>>4808127
thats the opposite of high
>>
Rolled 23, 90, 19, 47 = 179 (4d100)

Best roll is 79! Since our ENDURANCE is 5 we get a +50. Thanks to the drugs we took we also get a +20 to our dice roll. So our roll is 149!!!

My turn *cracks knuckles*!! I will do 4d100. Each d100 will be one of the Onis that will beat the crap out of us. Surviving this counts as a "Damn Near Impossible" difficulty roll so my rolls will have a +60 modifier.
>>
>>4808169
did we die
>>
Lets see! If I roll a 148 or less you guys manage to endure the beatdown.

> First Oni:
23+60=83

We endure the beatdown without much damage.

> Second Oni:
90+60=150

The Oni manages to break our left arm.

> Third Oni:
19+60=79

We endure the beatdown without much damage.

> Fourth Oni:
47+60=107

We endure the beatdown without much damage.

> FINAL RESULT:
One broken arm and a whole lot of pain.
>>
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>>4808196
I cant write an update now because im at work so in the meanwhile vote for the next torture!

> One minute of being hanged.
> Two minutes of electric chair.
> Three minutes of waterboarding.
>>
>>4808198
> One minute of being hanged.
Hanging will require the most energy to not pass out/let our neck fucking snap. I also think the waterboarding should go last, since it's just a torture for the most part and therefore the least likely to kill Diego.
>>
>>4808198
> One minute of being hanged.
Also our arm is bionic, it supposedly doesn't break
>>
>>4808575
Yeh, Axsi said replaced parts can't be crippled and it's basically the same, right? PHOENIX would fix it overnight anyways.

Now that I think of it, those Onis are fucking pussies.
Petition to beat the living shit out of them.
>>
>>4808650
Damn. You guys know my lore better than I do. It was an oversight. I had to write it hurriedly while at work. I guess I'll have to change the description.
>>
>>4808198
>> Two minutes of electric chair.
>>
>>4807790

The moment you finish speaking the four Onis scream and jump at you. A flurry of punches, kicks and blows with their blunt weapons land all around your body... and surprisingly, you don't even flinch all that much to be honest. You aren't sure if its the drugs or that your particular mutation and bionics have made you extremely durable, but you are humiliating them by smiling and shrugging it off with ease.

Before you can even notice it the four minutes have passed, the Onis are sweating and huffing heavily, they have done their best and all they achieved was to give you a bloody nose and a few scraps and bruises, the biggest wound is a pretty deep and nasty looking wound in your left arm, but it doesn't matters, after all thanks to your PHOENIX implant these wounds will heal pretty soon.

"It is true what they say. You are a child of Kunuiakea, a true descendant of the Green." One of the Onis says, his knuckles are bloody and scraped to the bone from all the punches that he gave you. Somehow he ended more wounded than you.

The four Onis nod at you and even bow and pat your back. "We are honoured to call you Brother." The biggest of them then says. "We hope to see you soon, we are sure you'll survive the trials." They help you stand up and then break the circle to let you leave.

You look around and see that several of the aspirants have died, their corpses are unceremoniously being dumped on a cart. There aren't enough corpses to feed the Onis, so you wonder what will happen to them.

"Will these people be devoured by the Onis?" You ask.

"No. Surviving so far proves that they have particularly strong spirits. They will be eaten by Kunuiakea itself. That's quite the honor. Same will happen to whoever dies in the next trial. Their spirits will live within Kunuiakea, these spirits will gain Kunuiakea's strength and the next time he bleeds in combat their spirits will be released with his blood. After being released they will reincarnate and be reborn far stronger than they once were." The biggest Oni replies.

"Does that happen with every Oni? Or only Kunuiakea?"

"You might be one of us, but you are still an outsider." Another Oni replies with a grunt. "We are more evolved that humans, our blood makes us special. When we eat people and creatures we not only take their flesh, but also their souls. These souls then inhabit our bodies and gain our strength only leave and reincarnate when we bleed. Every year dozens of old and wounded warriors of all kinds come to us asking to be devoured, asking to be reborn."

"But spirits are a fickle thing, they can rot just like flesh does. A carcass that has been dead for weeks won't have a soul to be eaten. We need to eat fresh, the fresher the better."
>>
>>4809077

You nod and gulp. This would explain so many things, Kunuiakea knew that Onis have a decaying DNA, that they need to eat flesh to stay alive, healthy and sane, the best kind of flesh is human one, and with this religious belief he managed to have the local islanders throw themselves at them and even beg to be devoured. It's fucking diabolical even.

Without a word you then leave and approach the gallows. As you walk you cross paths with many other aspirants, they all look confused and are wounded to a bigger or smaller degree, just from a quick glance its easy to discern which ones will survive and which ones wont.

As you reach the gallows you see several Onis lowering a couple of aspirants that didn't made it, their faces are all blue and then eyes absolutely bloodshot, it looks like their death was a slow and agonising one. These gallows don't simply let you fall and die from a broken neck, no, that would be too quick and painless, instead these have nooses that are pulled by a set of pulleys and a special executioner Oni that will instead slowly elevate you from the floor and choke you for a whole minute.

This time you aren't the only participant who plans to endure this torture, you place yourself next to a woman covered in scars almost from head to toe and a man with a hundred tattoos and bone piercings. It isn't until the nooses are placed around your neck that you realise that you along with the other aspirants are all completely naked. You smirk and even laugh a little as the noose tightens around your neck, the other two look at you as if you were an absolute lunatic.

The executioner Oni pull from the ropes and slowly all three of you start getting lifted from the ground. The noose painfully tightens around your muscular neck and the rope starts to pull more and more, you see the other two aspirants getting lifted far more than you do. Is it perhaps that you are too heavy or too big?

*SNAP!*

Only seconds later after starting and with you only being raised a dozen inches at most the rope that was around your neck snaps completely. The executioner Oni stop what she was doing and release the other two aspirants as well, then she simply turn and looks at Kunuiakea and shrugs. The demigod looks directly at your eyes and then nods.

"You aren't going to get away so easily." The executioner Oni then says as she places a new rope and the proceeds to remove the nooses from the other two aspirants and place all three noses around your neck.

"Thought as much." You say with a smirk on your lips and a long sigh as you nod.

> Roll 1d100!
> Best of 3!
>>
Rolled 86 (1d100)

>>4809081
go low
>>
>>4809126
neat
>>
Rolled 52 (1d100)

>>4809081
>>
Rolled 58 (1d100)

>>4809081
Holy fuck. Which chem made Diego start power tripping this hard?
>>
>>4809707
> Holy fuck. Which chem made Diego start power tripping this hard?
Adrenaline+Psycho+After Burner Gum+Voodoo+Slaher+Nuka Cola
>>
Rolled 34 (1d100)

My time to roll!
>>
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>>4809726
Alright our highest roll is 86, we add a +50 from our 5 END, and another +15 from the drugs in our body. This time is +15 instead of +20 because the chems are slowly weakening.

Surviving this counts as a "Damn Near Impossible" difficulty roll so my rolls will have a +60 modifier.

>Players:
86+50+15 = 151

>QM:
34+60 = 94

>Final result:
151-94 = 57 --> 5 degrees of success!

Writing now!
>>
>>4809740
I honestly thought they'd pull out a steel wire. Three ropes are a joke.
>>
>>4809753
> Three ropes are a joke.
It's what they had around. They can't stop the game until someone brings a steel wire.
>>
>>4809757
Sounds like they never had to hang a real champion before.
Is Roa just walking around the arena scanning cyberspace in search for the wifi password? It'd be comical paired with naked, spaced-out Diego not giving a fraction of a fuck about Onis struggling to hurt him.
Who's in charge here at this point lmao

I kneel to >>4776167. Day tripper is glorious.
>>
I'm sorry guys, but I won't be able to post the update. My boss has called me and wants me to go to work earlier than usual. Next update in around 10 hours or so. Thanks for your patience.

>>4809777
>Sounds like they never had to hang a real champion before.
Everybody else are regular humans, some are bigger than others but they are humans after all.

We aren't we are a fucking giant of a man, full of muscle and with a buttload of steel bionic implants inside of ourselves. No wonder why the fucking rope snapped, hell, the three ropes might end snapping as well.

>Is Roa just walking around the arena scanning cyberspace in search for the wifi password? It'd be comical paired with naked, spaced-out Diego not giving a fraction of a fuck about Onis struggling to hurt him.
No, he left the Arena. He's in the Fortress searching for a way of hacking the security to reach the FEV laboratory, and if possible he will also try to give the radio that we built to Fusumi.

But yeah, that would be hilarious lmao. Technically we could get a regular PA and have Roa fight on our side as a fully fledged companion.
>>
>>4809777
You are welcome
>>
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What are we going to use the Token for? Should we save it for the final boss?
>>
>>4810098
For Fusumi, of course.
>>
>>4810129
Stop thinking with your cock. She could literally melt our dick if she wished
>>
>>4810098
I was thinking on using it to cheese a loot table or to sequence break into a place and hope that we can get another one. But I'm fine with saving it
>>
>>4810159
Funny that you say it, because I'm the one who didn't wanna drink/fuck at Worker's Nest, didn't wanna fuck Jun, didn't wanna fuck Smallwood (wish we didn't) and opposed "dirty thinking" Fusumi while we just met.
At the same time I do genuinely like her and Diego is clearly overpowered to all fuck, so we likely won't need that Token for anything serious.

Here's coomer list for you:
>>4789136
>>4789151
>>4791358
>>4792106
>>
>>4809081

The three nooses tighten around your neck, the ropes tense and the executioner Oni does her best to raise your from the ground. Since they needed the three ropes to lift you up the other two aspirants that were with you simply wait their turn and look at you in amazement. You can endure the pain, you can endure the lack of oxygen, this should be easy.

Suddenly the gallow's old wood creaks under your weight, only mere seconds after your trial begins the wooden frame starts to splinter and just as the minute finishes the entire thing explodes in a burst of wood chunks.

You fall to the ground and cough a couple of times as you feel air filling your lungs once more. A deafening applause and uproar erupts among the public, soon they start to cheer and scream your name, a few even throw their chems and pills at you. You have become the favorite around, hell even Kunuiakea and the rest of the Onis are applauding you.

"Fuck it, I'll have to do it myself." The executioner Oni grunts as she approaches you with her arms extended and her claw like hands in a tight grip ready to choke the life out of you.

> Let her choke you for a whole minute. You could endure it once, you can endure it again.
> You have already been choked for a minute. Headbutt her and walk to the next trial.
> Other options, write in.
>>
>>4810894
> You have already been choked for a minute. Headbutt her and make sure she stays put before we walk to the next trial.
Bionic Skull, baby.
> Use the chems and pills that were thrown at us.
Let's keep this party going and our drug bonus high!
>>
>>4810894
> You have already been choked for a minute. Headbutt her and walk to the next trial.
Go Diego, go!
>>
>>4810894
> You have already been choked for a minute. Headbutt her and walk to the next trial.

Fuck yeah...

>>4810241
I'm not a coomer, I just really love axsi's approach of fallout meets leisure suit Larry lol.
>>
>>4810894
> You have already been choked for a minute. Headbutt her and make sure she stays put before we walk to the next trial.
> Use the chems and pills that were thrown at us.

"The fuck you do!" You scream back you grab her by the shoulders and recoil with all of your might to unleash a earthmoving headbutt on her. Nobody around here knows about your metal skull, but they all know that when it comes to bone and metal clashing, the metal will always win.

A loud crunching sound fills the arena, the Oni falls back as her eyes roll back and a great spray of blood comes out of her forehead. Her blood covers your naked body, part of it enters in your open mouth, it is warm, it tastes great.

With a deafening thud the Oni falls unconscious as more blood pours from her forehead, her ears and nose soon start to bleed as well, she might not even survive it. You on the other hand, only feel a small bearable pain in your brain dome.

More and more chems and gifts of food and caps are thrown at you, you grab what you can and much it all, crunchy pills, strange leaves, hard crystals and weird dusts get all mixed inside of you. The pain goes quickly, the world fills with even more colours, your mind goes numb.

Everybody in the arena stop and look at you completely awestruck. Onis, spectators, champion aspirants, everybody gets quiet for a while, then Kunuiakea breaks the silence.

"FINISH HER!"

Nobody reacts for the first seconds, but soon enough the spectators join and start chanting Kunuiakea's words.

"Finish her! Finish her! Finish her! Finish her! Finish her! Finish her!" They all scream in cacophony.
>>
>>4811585

Without a second thought you nod and walk towards her. She's breathing heavily, choking and drowning on her own blood, if you don't kill her then the asphyxia will. On her hip there's a crude obsidian axe hanging from a belt made from human leather. With a grunt you grab the axe, lift it to the skies and with a scream sink the heavy volcanic glass straight into her head, just on the wound that your skull had created beforehand.

Such is your strength and your might that the axe cleanly splits her head in two and then heavily lands on the arena's floor. The obsidian glass shatters in a thousands pieces and explodes violently, even the bone handle splinters and turns into little more than dust.

Once more the entirety of the public erupts in applause, excited screams and cheers that can surely be heard for miles.

"DIEGO HAS ENTERTAINED AND PLEASED ME!" Kunuiakea screams, his voice louder and deeper than the entirety of the public combined. Still, the moment he starts to speak everybody stops clapping and speaking, nobody dares to interrupt him. "HEAR ME CHAMPIONS! CONSIDER YOURSELF LUCKY IF YOU HAVEN'T BEEN HANGED YET! YOU WONT HAVE TO! SUCH IS MY GENEROSITY!"

Once more everybody starts clapping, the champions get on their knees and bow to their god. Kunuiakea looks straight into your eyes.

Vote 1
> Defy him. Do not clap, nor bow.
> Join the others, get on one knee and bow to him.

Vote 2
> Two minutes of electric chair.
> Three minutes of waterboarding.
>>
>>4811586
>Vote 1
>> Join the others, get on one knee and bow to him.

We already have said that we wanted to join him and discover our true potential yadda yadda yadda... In for a penny, in for a pound

>Vote 2
>> Two minutes of electric chair.

Also, agree with ZXC, let's load up on more chems that were thrown at us before hitting the chair.
>>
>>4811586
> Join the others, get on one knee and bow to him.
> Two minutes of electric chair.

Fuck yeah were killing these Blood Games
>>
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>>4811586
> Join the others, get on one knee and bow to him.
Let's go along, not like Diego can think properly at this point.
> Two minutes of electric chair.

>>4811595
We are already loaded enough imo, but I'm not necessarily opposing the idea.

These updates are spicy as fuck. Axsi sure knows how to portray psycho overdose.
Also random question. What does our bionic skull look like? What color and texture does it have?
>>
>>4811586
> Defy him. Do not clap, nor bow.
> Two minutes of electric chair.
>>
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>>4811868
>These updates are spicy as fuck. Axsi sure knows how to portray psycho overdose.
Thanks! I don't know if that should take that as a compliment or if I should be worried about my mental health lmao.

>Also random question. What does our bionic skull look like? What color and texture does it have?
Here's what my notes say about bionic skulls:

"Bionic Skull: As the name implies this implant requires substituting or shielding the cranium, usually with metal. Not many people apply to do these and unless you find a completely working Auto-Doc this operation will have an incredibly high mortality chance. Each skull, regardless of quality will make you unable to be concussed or have your skull crippled.

High Quality bionic skulls are completely undetectable by the naked eye and even fix your appearance and features, making you look more beautiful to others."


The appearance isn't mentioned, but I imagine it kinda as the picture related, clearly artificial and made of different materials, but with a more retrofuturistic aesthetic. Perhaps made of glossier materials and chrome details.
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>>4811897
Exceeded my expectations. That is one sexy skull.
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>>4811586
> Join the others, get on one knee and bow to him.
> Two minutes of electric chair.

Kunuiakea told you that his onis are too few, too precious, that he can comprehend when one dies to the dangers of the wasteland, but that he will never allow for one of his sons to kill another... and that's just what you did.

But, he doesn't seems angry, if anything he looks proud at what you did. Was it perhaps because she disobeyed him and acted on her own accord? The executioner Oni sought his approval the first time, when the rope snap, but then didn't seek the same approval when the gallows broke.

Regardless of the reason, you had his blessings to kill her. And so you did.

Like everybody else you bend the knee and get on the floor, bowing at your new father, your new god.

The roaring applause lasts for a full minute, but then Kunuiakea lowers his arms and everybody gets quiet once more. The Gauntlet isn't over, there are still trials to endure, you are only halfway through it. Slowly every aspirant stands up, and in solemn silence proceed to the next trial. As you walk towards the electric chairs you notice piles of bones and dark scorched looking soil on the ground, remnants of the last Blood Game, unknowingly you are stepping over dozens of corpses.
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>>4811960

There are four electric chairs placed together, all connected with copper cables to strange smoking and spark spewing machinery and wired together to makeshift batteries, power generators and leaking Fusion Cores. This machine is dangerous to everybody involved, both the victims and the executioners, it looks like it could blow up at any time. Just as you approach you see how one of the Onis removes an scorched corpse from one of the chairs, it has burned so much that parts of his skin have fused to the metal. With a crunchy sound the Oni drops the bloody and still smoking corpse onto the floor and other Onis grab it to carry it straight into Kunuiakea.

You look up and see the great god-man happily devouring the people who have fallen before you. He's eating them while they are still warm. Sometimes he throws a bone to the spectators which launch themselves and fight tooth and nail to pick it up as if it were a holy item of some sort.

To everybody's amusement the chairs cannot accommodate your massive frame, you are once more too big. The executioner Oni that controls this particular torture machine looks up to Kunuiakea and you both see him nod. The Oni then rips off several of the cables and painfully plugs several nails and screws around your body, specially around your neck area, then each nail and metal bit gets connected to a wire.

Another two aspirants get on a chair next to you, they seem to be eager to attempt this trial with you. Perhaps they believe that they will have more chances of surviving if you are next to them, perhaps their weird and twisted beliefs make them think that if they die next to you their spirits will enter their body or something like that.

Once everybody is in place the executioner walks towards an electric switch. Then with a grunt lowers it.

> Roll 1d100!
> Best of 3
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Rolled 64 (1d100)

>>4811962
Time to see how much we cook...
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Rolled 9 (1d100)

>>4811962
Let's see how resistant are our fellow aspirants.
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yike
>>
Fuck, the first two votes usually come pretty quick, but the last one always takes long to be posted.

>>4812010
>>4811984
Feel free to roll again, I'll pick the highest roll of the two.
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Rolled 60 (1d100)

>>4811962
>>4812044
>>
Rolled 84 (1d100)

>>4812044
>>
Rolled 45 (1d100)

My time to roll!
>>
Great rolls! our highest roll is 84, we add a +50 from our 5 END, and another +15 from the drugs in our body.

Surviving this counts as a "Damn Near Impossible" difficulty roll so my rolls will have a +60 modifier.

>Players:
84+50+15 = 149

>QM:
45+60 = 105

>Final result:
149-105 = 44 --> 4 degrees of success!

Writing now!
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it would be tragic if we pissed off another oni
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>>4811962

The circuit closes, sparks fly everywhere, the machinery runs with full power, more smoke comes out of it, the hairs on your arm spike and get tense, and then it finally its you.

Out of your control your entire body starts tensing and arching back, your muscles wildly spasm and buckle, your limbs and fingers curl and move erratically. Then the pain finally comes.

You scream, they scream, everybody screams.

All you see is white, all you can smell is ozone and burning flesh, all you hear is noise, all you feel is agony.

Then, something odd happens, at first all you could see was white, but then half a heartbeat later everything turned black. Did you die? Is this death? Where's the light at the end of the tunnel? Did your recent actions perhaps forbid you from reaching an afterlife, or is it perhaps that there was never and afterlife to begin with?

Your whole life flashes in front of your eyes, you revive your youth, your time in San Francisco, your first girlfriend, how atrocious your first journalistic article was... not every memory is happy, but you miss them nonetheless. The New California Republic feels like a whole different planet now, you cannot return home, not anymore. You have become something more than human, it's hard to say how would they treat you, and on top of that you have your children here, Hawaii is your home now.

Suddenly your memories stop playing, the darkness and the light are gone. You are returned to the waking world of the living. Has it been only a couple of minutes really? To you it felt like years.
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>>4812123

You look to your right and to your left, both of the people that came with you are dead now, one simply looks peacefully asleep, the other is completely scorched to the bone. It looks like these chairs apply more or less electrical power at random really. The executioner Oni idly moves some switches up and down and turns some knobs here and there, apparently readying the machine for the next aspirants.

The first thing you feel is not pain, but freezing cold. Your hands are trembling, you are crying tears of blood, the sores that you obtained in the Cauldron have reopened and are smoking and burning again. With a scream you stand up and painfully remove every screw, nail and clamp that had been connected to your naked body. More and more blood comes out of you, but damn if it doesn't feel good.

Soon enough you start to feel a squirming and ticklish sensation around your body, your Phoenix Monocyte Breeder implant is quickly accelerating your healing process, its working overtime to keep you alive and well. It isn't the first time that you feel the implant doing its magic to heal your body. Slowly you are starting to get used to this strange yet nice sensation.

With a growl you sniff the air and feel the ozone slowly dissipating... but there's also something else, the sweet sweet aroma of burning flesh. Your stomach growls, eating something would further accelerate your healing. Limping weakly you walk towards the corpse that had been electrocuted until burning alive and easily grab a piece of its flesh... then you give a look at Kunuiakea. This flesh is reserved for him.

> Eat it, heal even more, be as healthy as you can for the last trial.
> Kunuiakea hasn't given you his approval, respect his privileges and leave that burning corpse for his own consumption.
> Other options, write in.
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>>4812128
>> Kunuiakea hasn't given you his approval, respect his privileges and leave that burning corpse for his own consumption.

WTF... I know we are tripping balls but cannibalism seems a bridge too far even for a cracked out Diego.
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>>4812143
>WTF... I know we are tripping balls but cannibalism seems a bridge too far even for a cracked out Diego.

Thing is, we might have already eaten human flesh. We took part in a feast with our "brothers and sisters"

Also woo! 500 replies! That makes me super fucking happy! I'll create a new thread soon.
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>>4812152
Sure, but I think there is a big difference in knowingly consuming long pig and accidentally consuming it.

I was actually in Africa last week for business and had some bush meat served to me. It was described as a kind of guinea pig (like cuy) which I didn't think was too weird but I later discovered it was giant cane rat. Would've probably reconsidered my lunch had I known that!
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>>4812171
True, but right now Diego isn't in his best state of mind.

He's drugged to hell and back, he's pretty wounded and suffering from blood-loss, he feels full of despair for having lost his two kids, and he knows that if he doesn't do anything the High Evolutionary will sooner or later come for everybody else and conquer all of Hawaii, and on top of that he has spent the last week busting his ass, barely sleeping and seeing suffering everywhere he looks.

Eating human meat is terrible of course, but right now he might be desperate and broken enough to truly consider it.

And you guys have been incredibly clever by taking the "Jaded Soul" and "Day Tripper" perks, because if you didn't he would have been much, MUCH worse, both physically and mentally.

When I created these trials I thought that Diego would suffer a lot, that he would be constantly on the verge of death, but in reality he's such a badass that he's clearing them pretty easily, but still he's not ending completely unscathed.
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>>4812182
Fair enough, it's a good point that he is coked out of his skull and close to a breaking point with the trials.

But since the whole point is to rescue the kids I think probably the best course would not be to piss off Kunuiakea and continue our ruse.

Or maybe we're too messed up to think straight, who knows.
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>>4812187
There's also the fact that if we don't eat we might be too weak to survive the next and last trial. That's where the difficulty of the choice really resides.
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>>4812128
> Kunuiakea hasn't given you his approval, respect his privileges and leave that burning corpse for his own consumption.

Diego might be drugged to fuck and back, but he just had his life flash in front of his eyes as the agonizing pain finally got to him. Doubt he's as spaced out as before.
Eating cooked meat and devouring literal corpse are two different things as well.
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>>4812128
Are there any water tanks/containers around? If possible, let's splash some on ourselves before we get to the waterboarding.
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>>4812312
> Are there any water tanks/containers around? If possible, let's splash some on ourselves before we get to the waterboarding.

Please. We arent going to be waterboarded with water.

Where's the fun in plain ol water? Fuel, poison, alcohol, acid sure! But no water.
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New thread boys!

>>4812517
>>4812517
>>4812517



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