Part 11: The old switcheroo

The old switcheroo

Last time we made our way through the mountains, killed a lot of mans and gave some kids a second chance.

This time we make our first major move against the Shadows and will hopefully kill more mans.

Let's get our asses to Copper Hill


When we enter the map, a bold man stops us.


:"Why do you care, choker?!"

:"Hey, no need to be so hostile! I was just trying to help."
Sure..

:"Well, can you tell me where I find the leader of the Nomads?"

:"You're looking for Joshua? What do you want with him?"

:"That's something I have to tell Joshua in person. Just show me where he is. I don't have much time."

He will show us the way but as I already know, I hop in my car and speed ahead.

Take a look at the mini map please. It might not come across but this area is freaking huge. You pretty much want to drive everywhere or waste a whole lot of time on walking.


The Nomad camp has several contacts but most of them are useless at the moment.

Time to chat up their leader.


:"Who are you? What do you want from me?"

:"Greetings. I'm from the GNO and need some information about.."


Bugger. We could do a lame fetch quest here or use speech magic.

:"I am a friend. Believe me."
I can totally picture him doing the dumb Jedi wave.

:"You sure know how to use language to win people over, stranger...Ok. I'm prepared to forego the usual ritual. You say the GNO sent you? Good, what is it you want to know?"

:"The Shadows kidnapped quite a few people in this area, especially from the GNO..You know anything about it?"

:"Not very much. We do know that the Shadows take prisoners. But we got no idea why. They have a convoy made up of all kinds of vehicles to transport the prisoners."

:"Can you tell me something about their camps around here?"


Oh yeah? Well I got a whole truck full of guns, don't you worry.

:"Do you have any idea how we can end the terror of the Shadows around here?"
Hey, what did I just say?



:"If I understand you correctly you expect me to ambush the convoy and kill the general. But how do I know where to find him?"
It's not a bad idea but we need more intel.


Well that's convenient then.

Before I move out I make a quick visit to the trader.

I turn some of my loot into new guns, ammo and armor. Also it's refreshing to see a trader that doesn't look like Danny DeVito.

Have a look at the new helmet.

It looks dumb but is only one tier below the Dt21 set and therefore the third best helmet.

Our next contact is a blind man. The conversation with Bill is quite boring so I skip it and ask directly about the convoy.
He can hear it quite good you see?

That doesn't help that much. You probably find the convoy by accident though.

There is an intersection on the lower part of the map. That is the best place to set our ambush.

Sorry for the darkness, but resting here made the convoy spawn on top of my head.

It's not really an ambush though.

The Shadows will just leave their cars and run into my gunfire.


And grenades.

When the action is over, a cutscene happens.

Uhm, okay?

:"Betrayed? What do you mean? Who betrayed you?"
Detective mode: On

"I was told.. I was safe.."

:"Godammit, what are you talking about?"

"I'm a double. We knew.. that the general was in danger. And so... I was sent. But I was supposed to be safe!"

:"A double? But how did you know that I was planning to kill him?"
Oh no..

"There are traitors.. everywhere. I.."



Everyone wants to be a Wesley around here. Damn! Well at least I can loot the cars and...


Fucketyfuckfuck

WHELP!
Back to the Nomad leader, we should discuss this ASAP.


:"My people are loyal."
You wish.

:"It must have been a Nomad and you know that. No one else was aware of my plan. Think back. If you have any suspicions, you better tell me. A traitor is always a traitor. Believe me I know."
Wesley caused trust issues in Seagull.


Oh I'll look for him real hard, believe me.

I step right over to his wife.

:"You're Caleb's wife? I'm looking for him."

:"Who are you? What do you want? Peco, leave us alone! Go into the tent!"

:"Mom, what's up with Dad?"
Oh, he has a kid?

:"Nothing, everything's OK. Go into the tent, did you hear? No arguments!"

:"No one's going anywhere! I just have a couple of questions.. Where do I find Caleb? I need to speak to him."

:"Why should I tell you where my husband is? I don't even know you."

:"It'd be better if you told me here and now where that traitorous husband of yours is. I'm not going to ask a second time."
Seagull starts off rough.

:"I don't know where he is! He went away. He often does that. He'll be back for sure."

:"I don't believe you. Maybe you'd be a little more talkative, if I blew your knee off."
Come on, bro. That's quite rough. I know you're still hurt and all..but come on!

:"That wouldn't do you any good because I don't know where he is. Besides, I'm not afraid of pain."
Ohmygodstoppushinghim

:"(eloquence)Listen, Caleb has done something bad. He betrayed important secrets to the Shadows and deceived us. The other Nomads will make you an outcast, if you don't help me."
You got me worried for a moment, Seagull.



:"And you've got no idea where this cave is? How in god's name am I going to find him?"

:"I don't know... You could try taking one of blind Arik's tracker dogs. Take Caleb's jacket from the line and use it to let the dogs pick up the trail."

:"Hmm..that might work. Okay I'll give it a try."

:"But if you find him.. please don't hurt him. Don't take the boy's father away from him."
Playing the pity card, eh?

I quickly make my way over to Arik, before Seagull get's any other ideas.


:"I'm from the GNO. What's the matter with your eyes?"
Really?

:"I'm blind my friend. That's all."

:"I need one of your tracker dogs for a search party. Will you lend me one?"

:"Sure. For half a gallon of water or a nice piece of meat, you can have one of the dogs for a day. But if you want to follow a trail, you'll need a piece of clothing from the person."
I give him a piece of meat.

Arik lend's us Laica and the nice doggy will lead us to Caleb's hidey-hole.

Good girl!

:"Laica, I don't need you anymore. Go back to Arik."

:"Woof!"




:"P..please leave me alone..I.. I ain't done nothing."

:"Ain't done nothing? You told the Shadows about my attack. So stop whining and tell me instead where the Shadows' general is. Whatever made you betray your own people?"



:"That's very touching. You're a real do-gooder, aren't you? I hope for your sake that Joshua sees it that way too. So, where's the Shadows general?"

:"He's in Copper Hill, ever since he heard about you."

:"Well that's just perfect! That place is locked down tight."



:"Well, what am I going to do with you?.. Now you've really betrayed everyone..What am I going to do?"
Yeah, what are we going to do?..

:"I never wanted to hurt nobody, believe me. I just seemed to get involved by accident. Who can I still be loyal to now then? Now everyone hates me."

:"True, I wouldn't like to be in your shoes. Alright, this is probably going to be a big mistake, but I'll spare your Life. And now scram before I change my mind!"
Just to be clear, I spared him because of his boy. It's not his fault that his dad is a piece of shit.

I hoof it back to the Nomad camp.

:" I found Caleb."


Seagull is a real saint.

Now then, we have to get a hold of that Shadow general. No other choice than to attack Copper Hill.

On the way though, we find a very large and empty industrial area.

Lot's of warehouses.

And a rail yard.



Oh hey, Traingod. How is it hanging? Sorry about killing your flock.

There's a small group of Npc's around here.



:"Take it easy. I'm no Seeker, quite the opposite."

:"You don't look like one either. Still, you gotta be careful these days. We were driven out of our village. We lost all that we had."
That's a pity, David Duchovny.

:"What happened to your village? Did Seekers attack you?"


Alliterations!

:"Where's this village of yours?"
Never mind him mentioning some creepy faceless people/things.


Yep another location.

He can also tell us that this place is an older Shadow hospital but that they abandoned the place due to lacking manpower. That's a good thing for us.


Gotta stay pumped after the apocalypse.

I loot the place and stumble over a pristine advertising pillar.

An arena, eh?

There are only few valuables in this area. Aside from a quest item though, I find the first suit of Dt21 armor!

It's totally original and not at all stolen from Halo.

Copper Hill is just a few feet away.

The fight itself is not really tough. I thought about making a short vid but it would just be me running through the city and searching for each of the Shadows.

So it's screens.

Mines left and right. In a alternate dimension, Seagull stepped on one and I had to reload.


I make a loop through the place, killing like 15 Shadows. They are tougher than humans and with weaker guns you can get problems very fast.


The general yells at us from those tents. Let's kill more mans!

Here I make a mistake.

I forgot that his guards all have AK's and that he holds an automatic shotgun. Butch almost died like three times and burned through his supplies.

But I pull through and Butch takes his last spiteful death blast to the face.

Also my crew got tired right on time.



:"What prisoners? You're going to tell me now what's going on in Vesseltown, or I'm going to make sure your last few minutes will be a pure hell!"



:"Shit! Another one just dies before I can get him to talk..."


Yeah I'm wondering about that needle part too. But we have a new goal, Vesseltown. But we don't really know where it is.

Luckily the general has a snappy briefcase on him.


Keno, Ivana, Seagull and Vic all catch a level but nothing happens.

After the fight, the old residents of Copper Hill wander back into town. They were hanging out in a small camp next to the town. When you go there before the attack you get some more text but it's neither funny nor interesting.

Let's have a word with the mayor though.
:"Hey! I'm Madison the mayor of Copper Hill. It's great that the GNO finally cleared up the mess around here. That's something we'll never forget!"

You can ask for a reward here. But it's only a plate armor and locks you out of a quest.

:"It's great to be able to help."


:"Well since you mention it: I might have another job for you."



Yeah I can do that. He tells us that we can find the parts at an old radio tower nearby. This quest can only be solved if you have a tech guy, JFYI.

Have a shot of the refugee camp near Copper Hill while I'm passing through.

Tents. Tents everywhere.

I just had to put this shot in.

Despite being old and clunky, this game has it's pretty moments.


There's a broken generator around. And Butch can salvage the needed parts. Also I let my guys take a nap as they started to bitch. Aside from the stat reduction, being tired can also cause your guys to faint after a while.



:"Wasn't so difficult after all. The generator is running again. So, what about out agreement?"

:"Excellent! We finally have power again. Here's your reward."

#Ominous sound#

:"Goddammit! The generator has packed up again!"


:"Are you serious?!"


Yeah I just fix everyone's problems! I already picked up the plug in the industrial area. But a first time player will search for ages to find it.

On top of the two helmets I get some grenades and another PSG rifle. Neat, but I like the 1200xp much more.

So remember how the Nomad leader told us about two shadow camps? It's not necessary to attack the other one but I do it anyway. Loot and more dead mans, what's not to love?

It's tucked away in the mountains.

I'll tell you about that xp another time.


More dead mans!


Here I realize that Agnes needs a new gun with more range. She got quite a whopping on her own. Butch also reaches a level, but no talent.

The base is not really all that interesting though.

I find some ammo and a pair of M46 boots!

But there is also this guy.




Hey robot buddy! What are you doing here, all alone?

Ah come on. Don't be like that.

Seriously though, you can't do a thing with him. Which is a real shame. Imagine trucking through the wasteland with an old, crazy and weaponized farming robot at your side. It has tank treads for Christ's sake!

A tech person can salvage some parts and triggers a line.

But that's it.

We are technically done with this area. There are two sidequests left but those go into the roundup.

I trek back to the Nomad camp, because I want to leave this map in a special way.


:"Hey, what are you guys up to here? You're really armed up to the teeth. Are you heading somewhere special?"


Yeah, right!

:"Who are you trying to fool, old man? If such a place existed and you knew where it was, why would you want to take someone like my along?"


Okay now I'm kind of interested.

:"Here's my offer: come with us and help us, if the gang attacks. In return I let you enter the Garden of Eden. There you can eat and drink as much as you like!"
I could also kill all of you and make the garden the heart of my empire.

:"Maybe I'm interested. But before I decide, tell me who the other people in your group are."



I'm going to paradise!

One of the mercs hangs back lazily. Typical.

The roundup will be dropped soon as I already have the material together.

Vote

I need a couple of weapon names this time. I won't really put a time limit on this one.

Agnes: As you saw, her range is an issue so suggest another name for her.

Butch&Ivana: They need names for the big-ass machine guns that they will eventually switch to. Shame that "His&hers" was already used.

Keno: Suggest names for his sidearm and the 2-3 different rifles he will use. Especially the SVD needs a name ASAP.

e:fixed a screen