POV Rio
After sending off Piper, we made our way to the Old North Church. It was not in the best condition anymore, as the explosion from Pickman's Gallery had collapsed most of the church. What remained were some of the underground areas, but even getting to those required some digging.
'A shame such a historic building is now gone, but they can't blame me.'
After digging a bit, we got to the tunnels, and then we walked through them until we reached the decoder puzzle. Their password was as bad as I remember. It was Railroad. That was... and is... just very dumb. I mean, almost anything would be better. It's as if the passcode to enter the Castle was Minutemen. Or freedom. Or some other common word related to the Minutemen. Stupid passwords aside, we entered and found 3 people waiting for us.
"Stop right there. You went through a lot of effort to arrange this meeting. But before we go any further, answer my questions. Who the hell are you?" Desdemona asks.
We all raise our eyebrows and then start questioning if Desdemona was blind.
"Um, I'm Rio, Leader of the Minutemen? I am a little confused; you haven't heard about me. I am... uh... quite unique in terms of looks," I say.
Desdemona freezes for a moment and then realizes her mistake and clears her throat.
"Ehem. Yes, well. I had to be sure," Desdemona says, but no one believes her.
"You're having a party. What gives with my invitation?" says Deacon as he enters the room.
"Deacon, where have you been?" Desdemona asks.
"Oh, you know, around. But a better question is, why are you interrogating Rio? You finally go crazy as Tinker Tom?" Deacon responds.
"He came into our base unannounced," Desdemona defends.
"Des, we need him. He cleared out our old HQ, rescued Amelia Stockton, and he was the one who gave us info on all those spies for the Institute. So who gives a crap if he came here unannounced? We should show him some courtesy," Deacon replies.
"Sigh. I hate that you are right," Desdemona says.
She then looks back at me.
"Look, we're going to take a risk and let you and your friends come inside. I assume you came here for a reason," Desdemona comments.
"Indeed. I came here to deliver some items that belong to your group, including the ashes of your friends. By the time I got to your old HQ, the Synths had incinerated their bodies," I say with a slight frown.
They take the ashes carefully and with a face of sorrow.
"Thank you. This means a lot to me. To everyone. Come inside," Desdemona says with a quiet tone.
We entered the new Railroad HQ, and it was... okay. It was filled with stone coffins, which seemed fine until I stopped when I noticed something odd. A closed coffin. That wasn't odd; it was the fact that it was sealed with a mechanism and, more importantly, there was an intact body inside. I approached the coffin.
"Oh, that, we couldn't get the coffin open, so we let it be," Deacon comments.
I ignore him and move a sconce on the wall and then push several bricks in a certain order, which causes the coffin to unseal.
Puff
A puff of dust and smoke escapes, and I open the coffin. Then the corpse spoke.
"Just five more minutes," comments the man.
"Huh? I'm sorry, but did that body just speak?" says Deacon with a shocked look.
"Is it 2458 yet?" asks the man.
"No," I reply.
"Then f*ck off," says the man before going back to sleep.
I stand there confused, but then I realise what this is. I search my inventory for something I could use and don't find exactly what I want, but enough scrap to do it. I scrap enough items until I have the needed Silver and craft a large stake.
"Uh, what are you doing?" asks Deacon.
Everyone was now confused and coming closer to see what was going on. I ignore all of them and take the new silver stake in both my hands and plunge it into the Vampire's heart.
"HISSSSSSS!" The Vampire instantly transforms and attacks me.
The vampire's claws cut deep into my armor and launch me through a few stone coffins.
"HOW DARE YOU ATTACK ME! I'LL BATHE IN YOUR BLOOD!" The Vampire screams in pain and panic.
But the silver stake was doing its job, and the Vampire was stumbling around and was too slow. I get back up and cast a cleansing light spell.
"Cleansing Light!" I yell.
The beam of light hits the Vampire in the head, and it vaporizes his head. It falls over and disintegrates into ash. Before anyone can get closer, I swoop in and take all the ash.
"What the hell was that?" asks Desdemona.
"A Vampire," I comment calmly.
"A... A what?" Desdemona asks again.
"A vampire. You know they drink blood, are immortal, can't stand the sun, and garlic and that stuff," I comment.
"Bu-But they exist?" Desdemona says.
She wasn't the only one surprised, as everyone else was shocked.
"Of course they do, you just saw one. It threatened to bathe in our blood," I comment while gesturing to the broken coffins and pulverized skeletons from when I was knocked back.
"A-Are there any others?" Desdemona asks.
"In here? No, but on Earth, I don't know, probably," I reply with a shrug of my shoulders.
Everyone looks both relieved and worried. I was also a little surprised, as I wasn't expecting real vampires to exist in Fallout, but given the evidence, it's not that crazy.
After confirming that there was nothing else dangerous, I was led to a side area to talk with Desdemona. I also took this chance to give the Prototype to Dr. Carrington.
"So why did you reach out to us?" Desdemona asked.
"Well, I am here to give you some info that is very important to you," I say while handing a file with the info.
She reads it, and her eyes go wide.
"I-Is this accurate?" Desdemona asks.
"Yep, straight from my source in the Institute. By now, only 4 Scientists remain in the Institute and 2 Coursers. And most of the equipment is broken beyond repair. Which means the Institute is basically dead and Gen-3 Synths are unlikely to be produced for years to come. If they even manage to get that far," I state bluntly.
"This is... good news," Desdemona says with a grim look.
"But you now don't have any idea what to do, do you?" I ask.
"No... I never thought that this battle would end while I was still alive. I am not sure what to do. Our entire goal was to liberate the Synths and put a stop to the Institute. But there are surely still some Synths that need rescuing," Desdemona says.
"Page 4, it has all the known free Synths. Most of them aren't in the Commonwealth. As you can see, there are only a few Synths you could feasibly help, but with no Institute, there is no need to memory wipe them," I say.
"I... Well... Sigh. Yes, the memory wipes aren't needed, but we can still try to get to them and help them. Get them resettled," Desdemona says.
"Do you really think that is a good idea. How many people do you have left in the Commonwealth? A dozen, maybe two. And what about outside the Commonwealth? Another 2 dozen?" I ask.
"We have 17 members in the Commonwealth and 11 outside, mostly in the Capital Wasteland. Why?" Desdemona asks.
"The list of spies and informants, and as such, you must know several exist outside the Commonwealth. The Minutemen don't have the reach beyond the Commonwealth. So we need your help to eliminate the remaining spies," I request.
"Hmm, that shouldn't be a problem. I already sent the orders to the Capital Wasteland to eliminate the spies present. As for the others, it shouldn't be too hard to get to them," Desdemona says.
"Glad to hear it. I was also interested in seeing what you will do after this," I inquire.
"Honestly, it's likely most people will leave the Railroad. Many came just to help Synths, and when that is no longer needed, they will want to go find their own way in the world. As for those that remain... Perhaps we will start fighting other kinds of slavery," Desdemona offers.
"Hmm, I know of a place that has lots of Synths. It's a safe haven for them. You could consider going there to help them defend themselves. Otherwise, there are the Abolitionists if they are still around. They fight slavery. And of course, the Minutemen will always accept anyone who wants to join us in hopes of creating a better future," I suggest.
"Where is this safe haven?" Desdemona asks.
"It's to the North in a place called Acadia, it's on the island where Far Harbor is," I say.
"Thank you. I will let the others know and see what they want to do," Desdemona says.
Desdemona leaves, and Deacon comes over.
"Hey, so... I was wondering if you would let me join your little party of adventurers," Deacon asks.
"Um, sure, why not?" I reply.
I thought about it and figured it wouldn't hurt to add him to the party. Even if he joined to spy on us, he wouldn't learn too much that most didn't already know, and almost no one would trust his words, as he is a pathological liar. Still, I would keep an eye on him just in case. As I was thinking about our new member, I got a message from Preston. AHO has come back with MacCready and his family, as well as some additional members. It made me smile as I now had more elite troops ready for missions. I gave them a few days off and then gave them the orders to assist Preston as he needs it, so all the spies and enemies can be dealt with. I also tasked them with keeping an eye out for what those prophecies meant.
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Author's Note:
If you find a sleeping Vampire, stake it in the heart and smash its head. If you find a sleeping dragon, skewer it up its rear. Until next time, Ciao.