Part 4: Murder, trigger words and a happy end.

Murder, trigger words and a happy end.

Last time we finished our business at the GNO headquarter and paid respect to our dead pops.
Now we will finally trek out into the wasteland. Our goal is the town of New Safford, where an ex-member of the Ratskulls hides out.
He'll better tell us want we want to know, otherwise we'll make him.

We bring the map up via the context menu.

You can only travel to locations that you have been told about. Also no random encounters on the way. At the top you can see some stats, most importantly your travel time and time of arrival. This is useful when you don't want to arrive during the night. When we set our destination a trail of red dots will move there, but loading times are not great.

We enter the map close to the house of our contact.

I do hope he get's lippy and we can have some fun.

Getting close, will trigger a cutscene.
:"There is a hut over there, that must be where David lives. The place is a dump, even for an area like this."


We should really now.



:"I bet the poor bastard against the wall is David. And the others are no doubt members of the Ratskull Gang about to do him in."


Meet "A Ratskull"

:"Go to hell! Your Mom wasn't disappointed in me last night."


:"Real tough nut, aren't you, David? I admire guys like you. I mean it. Here you are with your back against the wall, knowing I'm about to blow your head off and you still can't keep that big mouth of yours shut. Brave, very brave."


If you wanna be dumb, you gotta be tough.


And here we go.

:"You Asshole! That girl is only 17! If you so much as lay a finger on her, I'll kill you!"



:"Why don't you just stop talking bullshit? Let's do this man to man. No guns."


That is mighty kind of you. But your pal thinks you're a pussy.

:"But I advise you to pray fast. I'm getting pretty fed up of looking at your ugly mug."
That may sound like a timer, but it isn't.

Here you can see the one bad thing about cutscenes in this game.

As they are handled in-game, your main guy will get moved around while you crew is often left behind. It's not too bad here, but there are occasions where this is really annoying.

Let's get to killing!

Agnes and Butch bag the first two mooks pretty fast.

But our crew takes their sweet time with taking out the leader.

Nice shooting, Tex.

Go team gun-train!

That wasn't very exciting, but just wait a little. Also the bandits had nothing good on them.

We should take a look at that David guy now, trigger finger still itches.


:"Shut your mouth! I'm asking the questions here. Are you David?"

:"Yeah, dammit that is me! We got to save my daughter. She is only 17! They want..."

:"One thing at a time buddy. First you give us a few answers. Then we will think about the next move."
Gotta have priorities.

:"Ok, but quick! What do you want to know?"

:"Where do the Ratskulls have their bases?"

:"Around here there are only small camps, and they change position all the time. There are no bases here."

:"How many members the Ratskulls got?"

:"They have about 100 men ready for action. Plus another 300 supporters from the outlying sectors. And new recruits are joining every day."
That's quite a lot of dudes, for our meager ammo supply.

:"Why do so many people join this gang?"

:"Simple. The Ratskulls control the largest water source for miles around. They spike the water with "Z" before they distribute it. You know what that means."
No, we don't

:"Hmm... What's with this "Z"?"

:" "Z" is a drug man. It was widely used in the 50's. That stuff makes you indifferent to everything, including pain, without reducing your brain to porridge. You stay fit and can fight.

:"And how did they get hold of the drug?"

:"They just hired a few experts. The stuff can't be that hard to make. They got a secret laboratory."
Wasteland Meth-lab, got it.

:"Where is the lab where they make "Z"?"

:"Ha, wouldn't you like to know? Listen, I will help you as soon as you have rescued my daughter, understand? And you gotta help the people of New Safford! Otherwise the Ratskulls will kill everyone in the village."
Okay, fine!

:"How well is the lab guarded?"

:"They say it's well guarded. In case you are thinking about a visit to the lab, you must go there well-armed. There's supposed to be an arms depot nearby. I don't know exactly where though."

:"I hope the story is true for your sake. Believe me, I don't give a damn if you're deserting, joining up or just running with the crowd. You were a Ratskull once and that's all that counts. If you are telling fairy stories here, I will be back."
Seagull does not believe in rehabilitation.

:"I'm telling the truth. You have to help me. I told you everything I know."

:"We will see about that. Where is this New Safford, where your daughter lives? And what is her name come to that?"

:"The village lies to the north of here and my daughter's name is Sara. Talk to Ben. He's the head of the village and is looking after her. Do me a favor and...don't mention my name. We...We don't exactly see eye to eye and had a few problems in the past."

:"You seem to have problems with a whole bunch of people, pal. Whatever, we gotta be moving out. I'll be back soon."

Huh, how about that? Despite being a former bandit, David does not seem too bad overall. Also we should help is daughter, that is kind of the thing good guys do. Seagull also leveled up and reaches his first speech talent, Trade. It will increase his trade bonus by sexy 20%. Also because David was such a swell guy, we loot his area.

I pick up a snazzy helmet, an Axe and some junk.

The Axe is not pictured here, but it is a very good melee weapon at this point. Here you can also see the extended single inventory. If you don't want to check stats in the Id, you can use this. That little fan in the corner actually spins around.

We just trek along the road towards New Safford, but on the way we spot a house to the side. I think exploring is more important then preventing rape.

Two guys are sitting in front of it. Let's talk to the nearest one.

:"Hey, what place is this?"

:"This is my printing shop. This is where it all begins!"

:"Aha. What exactly is going to begin here?"



:"You don't know how the printing machine works and you want to publish a newspaper. You are sure taking on a lot of work."



:"You want me to work as a reporter for you? I somehow don't think that would work out..."

:"Ah, you are just a little uncertain. No problem! I know what's bothering you and since I'm owner and personnel manager I am in a position to promote you to editor-in-chief and offer you a special annual vacation. So, what do you think of that?"
Bullshit, is what I think of that.

:"Listen, I..."



:"Biggest circulation newspaper? As far as I know, you have the only newspaper in the whole region. Probably the only paper in the entire world..."



:"In return you only need to travel around the local area some and supply me with five stories. I mean, it's like you are only bumming around here all day anyway. Why not do something worthwhile at the same time, huh? So, what you say?"

:"You don't give up easy do you! I suppose it won't do no harm... If I hear something, I'll let you know. In return you can write a few friendly articles about the new government. That's who I work for by the way. So, and now i have to go. You get your printing press sorted out! When I come back with news and you can't print it, there will be trouble!"
It's like our own Fox news.

We can find the place he talked about on our own by just exploring the map. But he will pay us in tasty Xp and we want that more than anything. And because he is so nice, we quickly enter his house and steal his toaster. No kidding.

Seagull also immediately triggers a line.
:"Hmm... My friend the printer could make a nice headline out of this deserter story."
We will get all the headlines in this area, though one his hard to find.

But there was also a second guy around.

Hmmm..

Well, remember that village and the girl? Let's do it!

Looks mighty wasteland-ish to me.

We trigger a small scene when entering.

Ye olde lynching tree.

Our contact, Ben, is hanging out in the middle of the village.

:"Are you the leader here?"

:"Yes, I'm Ben. What do you want?"

:"I have some bad news for you, Ben. It's going to get rough round here soon. You should better get your people together and take them to a safe place."

:"Thanks for the tip. But if you don't tell me exactly what's up, I ain't going to do nothing."
Why must everybody be complicated?

:"A bunch of mean-minded Ratskulls will be attacking the village."

:"When will they be here? And why are you helping us anyhow?"

:"I have my reasons. The Ratskulls will be here soon. I will do what I can to help you. But I need all the information you got on defending the village."

:"There's not much to know. The main gate is on the west side. There's a smaller one on the east side too. We use it when we go to our wood stores. We have practically no weapons of any kind."
Awesome..

:"Ok. So this is the plan: you take your people through the east gate to the wood piles. You should be safe there for a while. We will stay here and take care of the Ratskulls. Do not come back until you're sure it's all over."

:"Ok. I don't need no more than two minutes to evacuate the village. I will lead them out to the wood piles."
This actually is a timer but don't worry. You have more time to set up.

:"David's real worried that you are not looking after his daughter proper here too, they say.."
Didn't he ask us to keep is name out of it? Whoops..

:"How do you know David and Sara?"

:" "Know" is a little exaggerated. I was with David not too long ago. You know that he had problems after "deserting" from the Ratskulls. They intended to grab Sara in revenge and you can imagine what they will do to her."

:"In that case, you.. you are too late. It was obvious that these pigs would use Sara to get back at David. She disappeared!"


:"That means they have already taken her. We will try help her, if she is still alive..."

We would be good to go, but there is a little thing that keeps bothering me.

:"Hey, is that man hanging up there of his own free will?"

:"I doubt it. That's one of the Ratskulls. Two days ago he tried to blow up our village. We caught him and he got what he deserved."

:"Looks like it. Why did he try to blow up your village?"

:"The last time the Ratskulls came to plunder the village we defended our selves. That's probably the reason. If we'd known they'd try to blow the whole village next time, we might have acted differently."

:"I see. Hey, I just had an idea.. The guy must have had some explosives. You still got it?"

:"Sure, be stupid to throw something like that away. My son, Jay, is looking after it. Why?"
Come on, don't be dense.

:"The explosives could be important when the Ratskulls attack. They might take a look at their hanged friend, and when they are all gathered in one spot... Yeah, it might just work."
It sure will!

We hoof it over to Jay.

Here you can see the first instance where our speech skill comes to bear. Without it Jay would not give the explosives to us. Because he is retarded.
But we can still fail this as we don't have a 100% chance, so better quicksave.

:"(success)Hmm... If my Dad trusts you, so will I. Here's the explosives, there even was a remote detonator with that. What is your plan exactly?"
To make some cookies, what did you think?

:"The Ratskulls will be attacking the village pretty soon. I had the idea of luring them into an ambush. I'd be surprised if they don't have a look at their hanged friend. That's when we set off the explosives. Thanks Jay, we got work to do now."

Without the explosives, the coming battle will be a good deal harder. Victor is also overjoyed when we give him the stuff. While Ben is rounding up the villagers, I let Victor place the bomb and set up my crew. After that we have to play the waiting game. It takes the bandits like a good four minutes till they show up.

My main group is coming from here, behind the tree.


Ivana and Butch take the side across from the tree. They have to hide around the corner, or they would be spotted and ruin the ambush.

Yeah by that guy. Once he has passed we move them up a little. There is another guy coming but he won't be fast enough.

When the main force finally comes, Seagulls clever plan plays out.


:"No wonder we didn't see him around the camp yesterday."

:"He was an idiot... But he was also one of us. These little maggots are gonna die real slow for this."

:"How about some sort of one minute's silence for old Butcher?"

:"Have you gone completely crazy?! Enough of this foolish talk! Or else you are the next one to be hanged from that tree numbskull."

:"It was only a suggestion..."


I have placed a subtle mark on our little surprise in this shot. Just for viewing pleasure.

Let's kill those fuckers.

I really tried to get a good shot of it. But the fixed camera wouldn't let me. Sorry!

That also triggers a little scene and more bandits come in.

:"What the hell was that?"



:"Ha ha, you said it. Typical Rafael..."

Butch and Ivana quickly dispose of their target.

And move into the village.

The rest of the crew jumps the newcomers in the middle.




Ivana and Butch join the fray, and one Ratskull thinks the best course of action would be to go prone and crawl around.

Fat load of good that did him.
Also another guy ran up, and I tell Agnes to occupy him. Not the best move but a necessary one. She gets hurt quite a lot and burns almost all her herbs.

Ivana snipes a dude.


We just steamroll the other.


Agnes kept eating all the bullets and herbs, but still managed to kill her target.

Good girl!

But one guy wandered off, so I have Seagull hunt him down. Sadly Fraps fucked up and I couldn't capture it.

`Tis a pity. I whooped him pretty hard.

Well, now that the dust is settling what have you to say Seagull?
:"Saving New Safford, that's gotta be worth a headline."


Ben and his folk wander back into town, and we report our rousing success.

:"That's gotten rid of the Ratskulls for a while."

:"We owe you our gratitude. Sara is still missing. She must be with the Ratskulls."


Jay is getting frisky with Seagull. Stop it. We are not looking for that kind of reward.

So, after all that, I bet you're dying to know what the Ratskulls had in their pockets.

Nothing spectacular. We pick up an Automag 3 though, which is a great pistol for a large part of the game. But on the other hand, no one is skilled enough to make good use of it so we stash it for now. Also we picked up a Micro Uzi, but the 9mm rounds are better used by Ivana right now. Lastly, Victor has replaced his damaged gun.
In this shot you can see the weapon stats tab. It's very straightforward, but the accuracy stat is interesting. It shows the base and modified value. The latter is calculated with your skill, and at low levels you will be below the base value.
And if you really must know, "Idle time" is the interval between each shot/burst.

Well that was good fun. But I feel like I am forgetting something...Ah yes, that rape thing. We get no hints and have to find Sara on our own. In fact, we have to trek all the way to the south-east corner of the map.

When we get close, cutscene magic happens.



:"Of you? Don't be ridiculous."

:"So? I'm ridiculous, am I? Just you wait, you little bitch! I will soon..."

:"Come on then! Your boss will whip your ass if you touch me!"

:"She's right, Tony. Rick's gonna be real mad when he comes back and sees how you..."

:"Shut it! I know what I'm doin, Ok? Rick's been buggin me lately anyway."

:"Yeah, yeah. Tony's a big boy... And he ain't scared of mean old Rick.. What sort of crap is that?"

:"The little lady's got guts. That's good for me. Those rats are distracted, and I can deal with them easy."
It's just two guys, you know..

One


Two


:"I don't know who you are, but thanks anyway."
Yeah sure, no sweat. Killing rapists is my thing.

:"Ben sent us, it's a long story. Did these guys hurt you?"

:"No, nothing that can't heal."

:"Ok. Did you learn anything about what the Ratskulls are planning?"

:"You mean apart from their plans to rape me? No, nothing. Wait a moment... This Tony, he was reading a tattered note a while back and got really worked up about it. It had to do something with some kind of depot, no idea what that means though."

:"Hmm... a note? That can only mean the weapons depot. - Well, let's get you out of here."
Rape successfully prevented!

We loot the camp, but there is nothing worth mentioning. Victor also levels up, and can now blast locks! When we pick up that note, Seagull reads it.

:"Toni! Gotta go too thee deepo. Letts meat upp latter. Yu kan find the deepo..."

:"The spelling's so bad I can hardly make it out. But it looks like a description of the way to the weapons depo. Bingo, I should pay them a visit."

I send my crew into the village and have Seagull leg it to David.

:"Any news from Sara?"

:"Take it easy. Your daughter's fine. She is back in new Safford. And by now, the Ratskulls know who they are dealing with."


David is really happy!

:"Sure, and now tell me where I can find the lab."


So fucking happy!

:"Hmmm.. So I have got two choices now. Either I had off to the lab or to the arms depot. When I think about it, it makes more sense to take the depot first and stock up. If the lab is really well guarded, I wont get far with the equipment I have now."

Both locations are now on our map, but it really is a good idea to hit the depo first. The lab is pretty well entrenched and our dinky pistols and ragged clothes won't cut it. Ivana and Butch also leveled along the way, but didn't hit a talent due to the Int penalty. Though Ivana has gotten rid of it now.

I though about ending the update here, but you know... I'm still feeling unbalanced after all that rape talk. Another good deed could cheer me up. Hmmm.. I suddenly have the urge to talk to a random boy.

Luckily, there is one around.

:"Hey, boy! Why are you crying? You hurt or something?"

:"No, my wolf Vari has run away. I've been whistling for him but he ain't come back."
BEST. FACE.

:"Your wolf?! Well how about that... Where did you last see the critter.. eee.. I mean your wolf?"

:"He was here and the next minute he just ran off. He's very tame. He normally comes back, but today is different. Can you help me find him?"

:"I can give it a try. What does your wolf look like?"

:"Well, just like any normal wolf. "
Owned by a kid, you're getting sloppy Seagull!

:"Ask a stupid question.. Ok, little man if I see a wolf that looks like it..erm..might be..tame, I will bring him back. But before that, you have to stop howling!"

:"Ok, I will. Thanks..."

Fun fact: We could have told the kid to fuck off and stop bitching. He would have never talked to us again and we would hear crying sounds when near him.
Also there is no indication that he will give you a quest, and most players miss this.

His wolf, is not far away. Just outside the village we trigger a cutscene.


:"Hmm... That wolf appears to be quite tame. It must be the one the boy lost. Looks like he was having himself some fun with that lady wolf."
Primal love, baby.


Stop being dumb already!


This quest is a little counter-intuitive. You can not interact with the wolf in any way. You have to drag a raw piece of meat from your inventory, on to him.

:"Here, you big overfed sonofabitch. You like that, huh? Come on now, come."

:"Yeah, that's it, tasty, tasty meat! But you ain't getting nothing yet, you damned mutt! - I hope this works..."
It will. The wolf now follows us into the village, making some fucked up wolf-noises every step of the way.

:"Vari's back! Thank you, thank you!"

:"Ok,Ok. Forget it. Make sure that animal...eee..Vari, don't cause no trouble in the village."


I put that shot in because if you squint your eye, his open mouth looks like a mustache.

:"Is this thing with the wolf really enough for a story? Yeah, it got to be."

You bet!

:3:

Next time: Solving problems, a new face and a bunch of new toys.

This update was a bit meaty, but I had to work with the game's pathing. Can anyone educate me if there is a limit of emotes per post? That last one refuses to be displayed.

Also have Bobby's unsized face, if anyone want's it for an avatar.