Part 47: The Journeys of Hung Wei Lo: Episode 3
The Journeys of Hung Wei Lo: Episode 3Now that we've reached a point where Hung Wei Lo can survive hunting for special encounters, it's time to go out looking. This takes a considerable amount of time, which gives us a chance to trigger something that we won't be seeing in the main sequence.
Recognize this suave guy in the suit? It's our old buddy Fred, who we lent $50 to at the beginning of the game. Surprisingly, his 'system' pays out a lot better than just betting on the dog that does his business right before the race starts.
The payoff is pretty good, although the plasma grenade is just a bit random. For reference, this was about a year after the game started before I could collect this. I suspect it's a bit random as to when he actually makes it big.
While we're in the area, I took a trip to the seashore. I've been there, it's actually very nice. The so-what in the game is that for some reason going to the seashore extends your vision all the way out to the edge of the map.
Down in the lower right corner of the map this can be used to reveal a Vault-Tec logo, since they're the company responsible for the PIP-Boy.
Although there are a series of Special encounters you can get out in the wasteland, some of the ones that you can just run into randomly are pretty damn special in their own way. Case in point, these cannibals who are about to cut out the middlemen when it comes to getting food from farmers.
"I'm sorry, but I appear to have left my copy of 'To Serve Man' at home. I'll just take off running now to to get it, shall I?"
Ghoul crazies are something you can find around Gecko, as you'd expect, and are pretty much ghouls running around with automatic weapons. They're actually pretty dangerous early on in the game, which adds some risk to that scouting mission around Gecko.
Having done Redding already, the Morton brothers are a depressingly common encounter. They're actually far more difficult to avoid than most other encounters, presumably as a result of them actively hunting you down.
By this point I had abandoned the car and was walking everywhere to spring more encounters. Mutated molerats are another one I haven't seen before, and are actually substantial upgrades on the more common ones. This encounter is worth about 1800 experience.
We finally get our next special encounter without a warning screen to let us avoid it, making me think that the Cafe of Broken Dreams ambushed us.
The Cafe of Broken Dreams is full of rejected models for the main character in Fallout 2, as well as a few returning favorites from Fallout. Like Set, here, sitting in the corner, or the Fallout version of Tandi by the table.
They've got quite a lot of chatter to listen to, but not much of it is very interesting. The dog in the center is Dogmeat, who you can recruit the same way you got him in the original Fallout: just talk to him in a Vault suit or a leather jacket. He's as useful as he was in the first game, but considering the greater number of burst weapons he's in a lot more danger.
Another day, another Morton Brother… and a thug who managed to critically miss and kill himself in the process. Unfortunately, this was the only self-inflicted death I saw in this entire Jinxed run
Finally, in our second year of wandering, another special encounter! This one commemorates the Fallout fan community driving a spammer forth from their website.
The Spammer is the poor bastard who looks like Fred in the upper right hand corner. Buffy, who inspired the little Easter Egg that the other extras run is based on, is also here. In fact, all of these characters are named members of the Unwashed Villagers.
Once the Spammer is dead (and yes, it helps a lot if you chip in) everybody takes off running with shouted messages.
In addition to watching the fun, we also benefit by grabbing some Stimpacks from a locker inside the building.
"I think I know this game. Pufferfish!"
"No, you idiot, I'm stuck! Oil me! The can's over there!"
For oiling him, you get 150 micro fusion cells as a reward. I just find it a bit funny that they used a power armor sprite to represent the Tin Woodsman.
Our next encounter is part of a linked two-part series, one part of which is glitched out and can't be accessed without some kind of extraction tools. It's a bit unfortunate, as I'm sure most of you would find it pretty entertaining. Also, for the next exchange, all errors in grammar and spelling are from the in game script.
"The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch? Why, 'tis only the greatest hand held, anti-personnel weapon of its kind." "Why do you search for such terrible weapon? Surely you must realize that killing is bad, and wrong, or perhaps some unholy fusion of the two words." "We of the Brotherhood of Steel seek to find this most devastating weapon of our ancestors, and securite it from those who would abuse the power of the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch." "Why?" "Well… because the Brotherhood of Steel is dedicated protecting the weak and defenseless, and this thing could really hurt someone." "Why?" "Umm… because it's really the only moral thing to do." "Why?" "Listen, have you seen the damn thing or not? As your King, I demand an answer!" "I didn't vote for you. Anyway, maybe I saw it…"
"Over that way. Somewhere. Can't tell you more than that." "Right then. Thank you for your help. Something for your trouble." "Wait! I am also on quest. I seek the holy GECK. Have you seen it?"
"Er… since you have two of them, maybe you could give me one." "No. No. Couldn't do that. Wouldn't be right to end your quest that easily. There's some more of them that way. Go get your own… and don't follow us too closely, since they're in the same direction you pointed us toward for the Hand Grenade. Can't believe we missed it, but you know how these things are."
And then they take off with their minstrel and coconut clappers. The other half of the encounter that glitches out has them getting their asses kicked by a rabbit (in a rat sprite) until you get the Holy Hand Grenade from inside a nearby cave and lob it at thine enemy, doing 350 damage and getting 7500 experience for blowing a bunny to bits.
Some things are just better off remaining a mystery.
Next up, we have a small matter of continuity...
Fans of the original Star Trek might recognize this thing. Naturally we're going through it.
It dumps us in a version of Vault 13 that isn't full of Deathclaws, mainly because it's from more than 80 years ago.
You get kicked out of the past and brought back to the future once you break the water chip, ensuring that the original Vault Dweller will be sent on his quest. Except that you wouldn't be able to do that if he hadn't, which would mean that he wouldn't ever leave the vau… you know what? Nevermind. At any rate, an additional bonus from this encounter is the opportunity to acquire the Solar Scorcher, a unique pistol type energy weapon that recharges in sunlight and does 20-60 damage per shot.
Any further encounters would end up being spoilers just for showing the section of the map with their name on them, so we'll pick this up a bit later.