POV Rio
We talk about a few other things while I loot the Vault and the Triggermen. The Pip-Boy on Johnny Tight Lips was interesting. It wasn't an ordinary Pip-Boy; instead, it was a Pimp-Boy 3 Billion. It was a gold and diamond-encrusted Pip-Boy that looked really... excessive. I had no intention of ever wearing it, but that was fine, as I also got a shipment of 100 Pip-Boys from the Vault. They hadn't been looted or messed with, as they were in a locked section of the Vault that had some highly valuable supplies. It seemed like Skinny Malone wasn't able to break through the locks to get to the Pip-Boys and, oddly enough, a massive amount of food. It was odd as the Vault wasn't scheduled to open for some time, so it didn't make much sense to store so much food.
I wasn't complaining, as the food was all treated as perfectly preserved. Which meant it gave double the healing and buffs with no downsides. Other than that, I got 89 Vault 114 Jumpsuits. There were likely more, but they were either sold off or destroyed over time. After that, I picked up the Astoundingly Awesome Tales Issue #8, The Man Who Could Stop Time, which gave +5 Action Points and increased the effectiveness of slow/stop time effects by 50%. Which meant the Temporal Seal would last for 7.5 seconds instead of 5 seconds. It also made VATS make everything appear as if it weren't moving.
The real prize was the Speech Bobblehead. It read: "Each and every one of us has our strengths and weaknesses. Together, we can get throughanything."
The Bobblehead increased all vendors' caps by 250 and made their stock wider. It gave me 15 Skill Points I could distribute. The caps only affected system-based vendors like those in Settlements, but it was still a nice addition. It also indirectly increased the caps per day that those shops would produce for the settlement. The skill points went into Unarmed, raising it to 79.
For the more normal loot, we got around 200 submachine guns, most being the Thompson 1921 model. We got several thousand rounds of several types of calibers. We also found quite a bit of chems. Not an insane amount, but still around 100 or so in total. The corpses were removed from the Vault, as I intended to use this Vault for something eventually. Once all that was done, I set up some basic defenses and closed the Vault door. I knew that a functioning Pip-Boy was rare in the wasteland, which increased the chances that no one could use the Vault after we left.
Once all that was done, we started heading back to Diamond City. The trip wasn't too long, as it was getting dark, which made it even colder. I had been told that this was the usual weather around this time of year. I thought that was a bit odd, as if anything, Nuclear Winter would have frozen the planet by now, or the weather shouldn't have been that affected. But I figured that perhaps a minor decrease in global temperatures wasn't too crazy, given the 200 years that have passed.
We arrived right before they were going to close the gates. From the gate we went to Nick's office and Ellie was happy to see Nick return. She offered me some caps but I refused. Instead I was offered to get my case done for free. I knew arguing any further was pointless so I just agreed.
"Tell me everything you can, no matter how... painful it might be," Nick asks.
I explain the situation fairly well and both of them are shocked and a bit worried. I didn't say everything but I told enough that they got the general gist of the situation.
"Sigh. Okay, I agree that's... a lot. We can investigate his house here in Diamond City. If we get caught the guards won't bother us. They know me well enough to know that if I am breaking in it's for a damn good reason. However, I will be honest I am not fully sure where Kellogg is," Nick states.
I nod and we head over to Kellogg's house. Inside we find the secret room but nothing else of note. The cigars are preserved to track down Kellogg but the weather would make the trail hard to follow.
"Hmm, if my info is right then Kellogg was seen in Diamond City 2 weeks ago. However, he hasn't been spotted since and no one saw him leave. Which means the trail is already quite cold. But we might still be able to track him," Nick says.
I was tempted to accept but I had a gut feeling something wasn't right.
"For now let's wait. I still have some things to do and with this snow traveling would be a bit risky. If Kellogg is too far away I may end up being too far away to deal with the coming gang war in Goodneighbor," I comment.
"Hmm, fair enough. Now I know this case is a bit personal but I wouldn't mind accompanying you around the Commonwealth. I would like to see if all the rumors are true," Nick offers.
"Sure, welcome to the team," I say.
After Nick joins we go to take a rest when Curie stops me and asks to talk with me.
"So what do you want to talk about?" I ask.
"I have great news! I begged to become a synth for a reason. For science. To be able to make real progress in studying the medical arts. I have had a breakthrough! Using a new strain of mutfruit, I have discovered a way to greatly improve the restorative properties of stimpaks. I realize this is not earthshaking, but it means that inspiration does exist," Cuire says with some pride.
"Congratulations Curie, I know you have been working hard to find that inspiration," I reply with happiness for me friend.
"Thank you. I find my head full of notions. Experiments. Many will fail, but maybe I will make more discoveries. And you have given me this capacity. And beyond that, so much more. The world is full of life, possibilities. You are very dear to me. My closest friend. And I hope I can return the many favors you have given me. But..." Curie says with some hesitation.
"What is it?" I ask.
"I do love journeying with you and our friends but I find that I need a more stable envoirment with proper equipment in order to further my work. I know that getting a fully functioning lab is not easy. But would you be willing to help me?" Curie asks cautiously.
"Hahaha, is that all? I have been waiting for you to ask for a while now. A fully operation lab has been built for you in the Castle basement. I knew you would need more sophisticated equipment and traveling is not that inductive towards careful experimentation. And don't worry about us. We will be fine. And you are also welcome to join up with us anytime you want. And if you need help with getting supplies just let Preston know and he can help you," I say with a bright smile.
"Oh thank you, monsieur. No. Thank you, Rio. I promise I will create all sorts of inventions to help humanity," Curies says while hugging me.
I hug back and say she is welcome. And after the hug ends I get a notification that I unlocked Curie's max affinity perk. The perk was called Combat Medic: Thanks to your relationship with Curie, you gain Luck + 1 while being healed, and once per day you heal 300 Hit Points if your health falls below 25%.
The perk was nice but I was more happy that Curie was finally out of her creative slump. I had seen her trying to create something new for weeks now and also how frustrated she was with trying to get an inspiration. I didn't have much time to revel in that happiness as MacCready came to see me with a worried and slightly stressed look.
"What's wrong?" I ask with concern.
"I need your help with something, but I know I have no right to ask you after you helped me with Winlock and Barnes. You stuck your neck out for me and I don't forget sh*t... errr, I mean things like that," MacCready says with some guilt in his tone.
"Don't worry about it. We were helping each other out and I think that we can be considered friends by this point," I say with a no nonsense tone.
"Call it whatever you want. But getting back to what I want to ask. My son, his name is Duncan... he's sick. I-I-I don't know what's wrong with him. One day, he's playing out in the fields behind our farm... the next he took a fever and these blue boils popped up all over his body. Honestly, I don't know how much longer he's going to last. Last I saw he was almost to weak to walk. I didn't dare ask him to come with me," MacCready says with a devastated tone.
"Hmm, that sounds like the Blue Flu or as the US Government called it the New Plague. You're right to ask for help that's a very dangerous illness," I state with a serious tone.
"W-wait you know what this is? Then you must know how to treat it right?" MacCready asks with hope.
"Yeah, I can create a cure for you no problem. Just give me... 5 hours. I should have a cure made in that time," I say after some calculation.
"Oh, thank you! Thnak you! This means more to me than you could ever know. You just saved my boy's life," MacCready says with the happiest face I have ever seen on him.
"Before you get too excited you might need to calm down. Getting the cure to Duncan might be harder than you expect. Think about it. It's currently winter. Most caravans don't travel around this time of year. Then there is the fact that all land routes south are impossible to travel right now. And even if they do take the job they would take months to get around the issues in the south," I comment.
"What do you mean? What's happening in the south?" MacCready says with fear.
"See for yourself," I say while pulling out a satellite image from a few days ago.
"W-what is that?" MacCready asks.
"That... Is a Feral Ghoul Horde. A massive one being led by what I can only describe as a giant Feral Ghoul. They number in the 10's of thousands. Easily much larger than the horde that appeared in Boston a while ago. Trying to get around that would take a long time and it's likely that most caravans would turn back once they saw such a large horde," I state.
"Then, what do I do? Duncan needs the medicine," MacCready asks.
"That is where I think I can help, but I will need you to do some things and I will give you some suggestions," I say.
"Anything just say the word and I will do it," MacCready says.
"It's nothing much I just need you to accompany Delta Squad to the Capital Wasteland and do some retrieval and scouting missions. My suggestion is that you evacuate everyone you care about from the Capital Wasteland as it seems quite volatile right now. That and it means you won't have to be separated from you son. You would be following the orders of Pharynx on this mission but you will be using the AHO to get around," I ask.
"Done. It should be easy enough. And I will take Duncan here. I think the Commonwealth is safer as of right now. Especially with you around. But how long will I be gone?" MacCready asks.
"Possibly until the beginning of March. That is the latest I would see you being away for. Likely you would be back before the end of Feburary," I say.
MacCready has no issues with the request and I start working on making the cure. I borrow the lab at the Mega Surgery Center as Doctor Sun was willing when I told him I would teach him how to make Healing Salve. Healing Salve was a cheap and natural alternative to Stimpaks. I learned the recipe from maxing out my Survival Skill. It was about half as effective as a Stimpak but far cheaper to make and had no side effects. And it acted faster than some Stimpaks. Oh, and it never went bad or expired.
Once the cure was created I gave it to MacCready and told him how to apply it. Then I sent him to the Boston Common's to get picked up by Delta Squad. As soon as I gave him the cure he thanked me profusely and I got the notification that I was now Idolized by MacCready and thus got his affinity perk. It was called Killshot: Thanks to your relationship with MacCready, headshot accuracy in V.A.T.S. is increased by 5%, and you gain a 25% chance to critically hit enemies bellow 25% HP.
'Huh, two perks in one night. Well I guess that is fine. A shame that we are now down two people but we got two more companions recently so I guess it wasn't a loss.'
The perk was pretty good. I also made sure that Curie would go with MacCready for the moment to get a free ride to the Castle. I also made sure they said their goodbyes before they left. Then I settled in for a nice relaxing night.
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Author's Note:
So for the companions I believed that it didn't make much sense for Curie to stick around all the time since she want's to invent new things and that is much harder without the proper infrastructure and equipment. So it only made sense that she would leave to do research. As for MacCready it only made sense that he would be on a time crunch. Duncan was sick and how long he would last is up for debate but I doubt MacCready would want to be away from him unless he had no other choice. So eventually he would leave to return to his homestead to see his son. They will return every so often but for the most part they are on their own path. Until next time, Ciao.