Part 10: Picking up the pieces

Well that is something else all together! With the context it makes sense.

Can't really say as it's not an official saying, like you won't find it written down. But people in my area use it when they want to make a "joke" about the eastern countries or east Germany as it rhymes more clearly in German.


Oh, look what I found in my pocket!



Picking up the pieces









And so, things came as Akhmet predicted. The Administration has fallen, most likely due to it's own rats. Akhmet sure is curious to find out who made the move, and to grab a couple of things while he's in the neighborhood.

:"What do you intend to do again? Stay at home, stay away from the street! You know it's not safe!"


:"I want to take a walk to the Pentagon and look on remains after the fight. Maybe there's some stuff for our house or maybe somebody was quicker. It's still worth it."

Wifey nags - Akhmet does it anyway. We know the drill by now.

Vitek hangs out on the second floor of the house.

When you start a new chapter, your followers will not automatically be in your party. You can tell them to come along or to guard the house, which has no use. I'm pretty sure that this is a trace of the random encounter system that the devs wanted to include. According to an interview, they wanted to have random city encounters and attacks on your house. Encounters would be no biggie, but I can't imagine how they would have gotten the attacks to work while Akhmet is on another map?

:"Administration is fucked. Really."
No shit, Sherlock!

:"I need to go there while it's not too late. Come on, Vitek, you go with me. Take your gun and a big backpack."

Off we go...

:"This road leads to Pentagon, Konev's headquarters. It could still be unsafe. - Hurry up! They'll take all the loot away!"




We start off in a narrow alley, so I can't really give you a good opening shot. Have a look at the map, for now.

The headquarter is straight ahead, with a deserted apartment block next to it. The upper area is a dilapidated industrial/warehouse block.

After a few steps in the alley, combat triggers right away...



:"Oh dear, there's a pack of them!"

:"Get down and stay low!"

Say hello to dogs! Ugly mutts aren't they?

The game already mentioned them a couple of times, but basically the city is full of feral dog packs that feed on corpses and trash. There are even some unique civi quotes, mentioning how dangerous those animals are. And that's also true in-game. They'll fuck you up. Due to how the melee/shock system works, when one gets close enough to bite you, you're done for. Stun-locked while the fucker rips out your guts. And they'll always show in packs from 6-10. They won't be much of an issue here, as our heroes have the range advantage, but there is one special mission where these assholes can ruin your whole game.

I don't think you need to see me headshotting two packs of dogs, so have cliff notes.




As said, no real problem. But it is still possible that you miss your shots and get mobbed, so I was especially burst happy.

Oh, and remember Masha? The clothes trader?

She'll have a use for these.

Apparently, Akhmet is also a master tanner that just skins, dries and processes dog skins in a heartbeat.
Not every corpse will yield a skin, it's a bit random, but I got pretty lucky on this map.

Time to check on the big house..

..there must have been quite the battle. Look at all those bullet holes!

Also Vitek leveled from the dawgs and spend his point right away..

Strong back:"You can carry way more than the average person. Quite appropriate for a Marauder, eh?."

I find this to be an important perk for Vitek. He got low strength and max weight, but the best gear for him weighs some decent kilos.

Back to the matter at hand..

..the entrance-hall looks as fucked as the rest. But at least it's quiet.

Akhmet makes a right first.

Checking the cafeteria.


There's some food in the kitchen, but nothing amazing.

While he creeps through the hall again, he grabs some ammo from boxes around. Aside from rifle calibers there's also a half used belt for the Utes.

Protip: instead of taking the large belt, just unload the rounds. They only take two spaces.

The building is designed symmetrical, so the rooms on both sides and floors are roughly the same. The back part of the building is collapsed though and can't be entered.


So let's take a look at the rooms on the ground floor.

That's not hidden very well.


A kettle and a pack of tea is all that's in here. Who'd guard that with a mine?!

If your keen eyes spotted the magazines/books in the shot, rest assured that I'm going to show them in a bonus update with other signs and posters.

The other side of the building...

..has no traps.


He just had a pack of smokes.

Okay, time to check upstairs...

..oh great, combat!

See, I wasn't being stealthy to role-play. There are other people in the building and there are many ways in which you can trigger them.


Good thing that Vitek had his SMG out, eh?


The clever solution would have been to just blow the door apart. But I really wanted to be cool.


The AI is fine with just destroying the door though!

Time for SWAT action...

Vitek tactically opened the left door and wiggled, even more tactically, out of the way of those bullets.

He then sprints up the other door and continues to be tactical, before getting the fuck out.

Perfect team work.

Truth be told, I had a retarded moment here. I really should have let both my guys blast at the door till it shattered. Oh well, whatever works!


While running, Vitek spotted this guy in the other wing of the building. I got him into cover and whipped out the rifle.


Beautiful! One hit kill, through a medium vest. Vitek continues to own.

And the battle ends as sudden as it began. Just for the record, those guys were labeled as "Marauders". So now we know that not all of them are pals.
They have a neat selection of loot on them, probably because they raided the place before Akhmet.

Time to check the rest of the building.

Akhmet repeatedly failed to crowbar this door...

:"You can do NOTHING."
And Vitek turns from friend to asshole in a millisecond. The fuck? (Actually all characters have spiteful response for failures.)

No matter, lockpick it is then.

Oh, what's that on the ground?


Another LMG, and I've already given my opinion on them. In that light, you'll probably be surprised by the one that I'll choose to show off.


The other side of the floor has some crap mines and junk, outside.

In to the room we go..

...oh...

Cue old western music, as eyes dart back and forth and hands grip weapons much tighter...is this a Mexican stand-off?!



Nah, I'm just joshing. In fact, those are two friendly Marauders. It's not made clear in any way, but talking to them is actually your objective, will give Xp and moves some plot. You don't need to do it, but you'll miss out on some story.

:"What do you need?"

:"God bless you."

:"Easy. I'm not your brother. Maybe you were born by a slut, who knows?"
Wat?!

:"You're funny. So, Nigmat's men slain everyone?."
Sherlock mode: On

:"They say so. I didn't saw the fight myself. But I've been to the building and I've seen blood everywhere, even on the ceiling."

:"You think they got all of them?"

:"Have you seen the prints on the street? Blood prints! I guess one wounded guy was struggling to reach a safe place. But it's not my business. Good luck, I've got work to do."


A survivor? I doubt that it's Konev but it's still worth checking it out. JFYI, the blood prints are not really near the building. You'll see in a bit.

Before I chat with the other guy it's time to loot some good stuff.

Those lockers may as well be coated in gold...


A heavy helmet, two plates and a launcher.

Also

Two nades for the launcher. There are actually two kinds of the Vogs in the game. This is the normal impact detonator type. While the other version will jump after impact and explode in the air. I love those things!

:"What do you need?"

:"Hey. I've got no tricks, pull down your gun."

:"Hey. Walk away and you'll be safe."

:"So, Nigmat is now on top? Heard anything about it?"
Never mind that he just told you to fuck off, Akhmet.

:"Yes, seems so. Why do you care?"

:"I don't care. I was just wondering."
Yes, Akhmet, we can all see that you totally don't care.

:"Good riddance if you don't care! And hey, bro...Don't go from the street. There's a huge pack of dogs feeding on corpses. Good luck to you."
'Tis cool, brah. I already killed them dead. _{Spoiler: there are more}

I suspect that this exchange is way better in the original, like just about every conversation so far.


And here comes the Rusreserve back into play, the object of power over the region. And I'm sure Nigmat's band found a lot of good things in here. Lets hope we don't cross paths with them.

Because he's a master detective, Akhmet leveled from his investigation.

Grenadier:"In peaceful times you could excel at basketball. Now you excel at scoring grenades into the smallest crevices."

I'm picking this skill for a very specific reason. I mean grenades are always useful, but I have plan for later. Trust me, you'll like it.

The rest of the building yields some more nice things, like Whiskey, meds and more ammo, but isn't that interesting.


This however is a new type of round. I get all giddy when I think about the weapon that uses it. And it's not the one you're thinking of, believe me it's even better.

So, time to search the rest of the map. Before I move into the apartment block next to the headquarter, I trigger the last pack of dogs, near the warehouse.




Akhmet just douses them in buck, but the game jumped back to Vitek, so I couldn't capture it.

The stairs and elevator in the block are broken.

Only the two flats on the ground floor are accessible.

The left one has practically nothing.

Except for a safe that you can't open. Neither with the crowbar nor the picks. It's also slightly different than other locks in the game. Hmmm.... _{for now}

The other flat is mined to all hell.


Looks like a Claymore...

..but is a knock-off that's actually better than the original. Those mines are kind of rare, but they're not super powerful or something like that. Just a bit better.




This is the most dickish mine in the game. If you just walk into the room, you'll die. You need to be crouched and move slowly to have any chance at spotting it. I can't tell you how often I forgot about this one and hit the reload button with fury. There isn't even good stuff in here, just food...

Time to check on the warehouse...

...hey that does look like blood prints to me.

:"Seems like... a crawling, wounded man. Maybe, he's still alive?"
With his Sherlock powers, Akhmet is able to determine the gender of the victim.

You better hope that he can hold on, as I got lootin to do. The area has some more Vog and hand grenades. And...



I'll take this. I won't use it on Akhmet, as I like him to be a bit more mobile with the AKS, but it'll still do great things along the line.

Back to the blood prints...

..that looks like a hand print...







Well, how about that? It's Serb! He's fucked up, but Akhmet will help a brother out.


Also he's one tough motherfucker, already back on his feet with the shotty in his hands..

:"It's...getting...colder.."


Okay, maybe he does need some rest.

While I organize my inventory, have a look at another sweet texture.

Shame that it's half busted...


Vitek and Akhmet carry a combined load of roughly 100kg of stuff. Serb can't pitch in, so I have to leave some things in a locker. But you know, I have a feeling that we may see this place again.

Time to bounce..

:"So..cold.."

:"It's okay, brother. Time to go home."



Oh, he'll be an awesome fighter. In fact, he's the best at heavy and assault weapons while being built like an Ox. I really like Serb! But that is for next time, as this chapter still has more things to do. And those need to stand on their own...