Believe it or not, we only have a few major sidequests left in this game. I was originally planning on doing "Tenpenny Tower" for today's update, but then I remembered that I didn't ask for your guys input on the outcome of that quest before I started the update. (Just so it's clear, most updates are made in advanced.) So, instead, we will be doing "You Gotta Shoot Em' in the Head".
I bet you're wondering where I got the Railway Rifle? In between updates I crafted both the Railway Rifle and the Dart Gun. Both of them are pretty fun to use weapons, though I do wish Bethesda did a little bit more with the homemade weapons. There is potential for a lot of cool gameplay mechanics there, but it's really just find the ingredients and make the weapon.
So now we're back in Underworld. Let's get the other quest that we can get in this area.
First however, let's talk to the Sydney.
We can give Sydney the audio log we found in the hotel.
"Now that we're done working together, could you tell me about yourself?"
"Ha, I'm suprised that you care. Usually everyone looks out for themselves nowadays. What is it you wanna know?"
"How did you get into the relic hunting business?"
You have to ask Sydney some questions before you can bring up the holotape.
"I dunno, I gew up pretty much like every other girl in this crappy world. Spent most of my life just trying to keep away from Slavers. One day out in the Wastes, I stumbled across some poor bastards body. On the body I found info leading to some famous document."
Wouldn't the Enclave be interested in this documents, considering their all about "restoring" America in this game?
"I had heard that Abraham Washington was looking for these scraps of paper, so I went after the thing thing. Turned out to be the Consitution."
Huh, I was wondering why we didn't find that in the Archives.
"After he loaded me up with craps, I got piss drunk, got laid and was happy for the first time in a while. I haven't looked back since."
"Nice gun. I've never seen one like that."
"Yeah, it is nice. I don't even sleep without it under my pillow."
It's one of the best guns weapons in the game.
"My father made gun ammunition for a living. Taught me everything about how firearms work. So, I've spent my downtime tinkering with guns like my 10mm Ultra SMG here. It's like a hobby I guess."
Sydney is apparently really good at her hobby, considering she runs an ammo shop now.
"So, whatever happened to your father?"
"I thought he was the best. My mom was long gone, so all we had was each other. He used to call me his "little moonbeam." How sappy is that? But when I was 14, he vanished and left me all alone. Never even said goodbye. I cried for a week."
What's it with this game and daddy issues? It's not quite as bad as Mass Effect 2's loyalty missions when it comes to that though.
"I don't know where he went, and I don't care. I just hope he got what he deserved, the son-of-a-*****!"
I don't know how you're supposed to find this note without knowing ahead of time.
"Sydney, I found a note from your father. He didn't abandon you."
"What?! Oh...my god. That's his voice. It's really him! I can't believe you brought this to me. I don't know what to say but thank you. Wait! Here, take my 10mm Ultra SMG. It's never let me down. Besides, I won't really need it anymore."
Nice, we got the Ultra SMG now. It's funny, Sydney, a temporary companion has more personality and backstory than pretty much any other companion in this game. (Except for Fawkes. I like Fawkes.)
We can recruit Charon by paying like 2,000 caps for him, but I don't feel like it right now. I tried to recruit him, but then I realize after Charon "talks" with his boss, you can't loot your 2,000 caps back. It's bullshit.
So we come across a ghoul NPC by the name of Mister Crowly. He is a very unhappy person it seems.
"Easy now. I've got nothing against Ghouls."
"Is that so? Even if I call you a milk-sucking, mutant-loving, water-stealing whore?"
"All true, except for the part about the mutants, the water and the whore."
Some of the player responses are pretty funny from time to time.
"Ha, ha! I like a human that knows his place. Too many of you think we're all just zombies."
Well the feral ghouls, who are effectively zombies, don't help with that image.
"They don't know, or don't care, that we're just as human as they are inside."
Maybe you should stop referring to them as "human" then.
"We bleed! We hurt! We regret! And you know what really pisses me off? They think the only way to kill us is to shoot us in the head, like in the old zombie stories, and that will put us out of our misery. Hey, I know! Maybe you could help even the score."
Hired hitman? Well, I guess that's another job we could add to our resume.
"Okay. What's the plan?"
"Not everyone is as sympathetic to Ghouls as you are. In fact some humans are downright bigots. They treat us like zombies, calling us brain eaters and shufflers. Well, I'm going to make them pay. Uh...before I get into the details, you don't have anything against killing do you?"
I think we killed like a dozen raiders in the past day alone, so nope.
"Not for the right cause."
Crowley's really just tricking us here, but let's just play along with his little game for now.
"Or the right money, heh? I've got this list of people. Ghoul bigots. Real scum. I've only got four guys left on the list. Started with eleven. All of them hate Ghouls and treat us like we're zombies."
Okay, I get that they're assholes, but is it really reasonable to kill them for it? (Of course, that's not really why he wants them dead.)
"They all deserve to die. But it has to be done with a head shot. Just like the old stories where zombies can only be killed that way."
So this is our quest gimmick, we have to kill them with a headshot. Of course, if we're diplomatic about it, we don't have to kill anyone. That's what we're going to do.
"I'll give you 100 caps for each of them. If they die some other way, I'm only paying 25 though."
100 caps is a ridiculously small amount considering what you miss out on if you collect the bounty. (Unless you don't loot the keys before collecting, I've never tried that before.)
"Sure. People like that don't deserve to live."
"Excellent! Take this sniper rifle. You'll need it."
Pfft, we already have like 3 of those.
Now it's time to leave Underworld, and find the first person. Dukov is the closest one to our current location.
Before we enter, we get attacked...
By a deathclaw and an enclave officer. The Railway Rifle won't do us much good here, so let's switch to something a bit more damaging.
Apparently the deathclaw is being controlled by the enclave. Dogmeat seems to have no problems with charging the giant creature.
Aside from the deathclaw, the enclave officer is on his own.
I wonder what went through his head in order for him to think charging the heavily armed wastelander was a good idea.
There's a deathclaw cage and some medical supplies over here. Did they know Dukov lived across the street.
There's Dukov. Let's wake him up, but first let's steal that quantum right next to his bed.
Oh great, it's Dukov again.
"Nevermind. You need a drink. Cherry! Need some fucking booze over here!"
"Someone said you might know a Mister Crowley. Care to comment?"
"He's fucking dead, that's what I can tell you. Feral Ghouls ripped his nuts off and ate them for dinner."
"Where did he die?"
"A little shithole called Fort Constantine. It fucked us up but good."
"[Speech, 100%] Where is this Fort Constantine?"
One thing I like about this quest, is that if you talk to NPCs around Underworld, they'll talk about how something seems fishy about Mr. Crowley. While we didn't do that here, basically you get Crowley to come out and say he really just wants the keys. Why you would give him the keys for a small fee instead of going for the extremely valuable power armor is beyond me.
"[SUCCESS] It's northwest of here, numb nuts. A long fucking walk too."
It is, it's just a little south of the Train Tunnel we take to The Pitt.
"Wankers like you can't get in though. You need a special set of keys."
"Actually, Crowley is alive. I'm supposed to kill you and bring him proof."
"So the meatbag is alive, huh? And I bet I know what he wants."
What would he want so badly with the T-51b power armor anyway?
We really have no need for it either, the suit we got from Operation Anchorage is pretty much better in every way, especially considering it doesn't decay.
"But I don't know what you want. What's your angle, clown shoes?"
"What's the key for?"
"You need all the keys to get through that fucking fort. Since I've only got the one, no point in my going back there. If you want that key, I need to see your caps on the table, clown shoes. Ha, ha!"
We can simply kill him and take the key, but I want to get through this quest without killing any of these guys.
"[Speech, 54%] Give me something I can use as proof that I killed you. Or else."
"[FAILED] That dog ain't gonna hunt. You're going to have to do better than that."
We failed a speech check, for like the first time in the game.
"Here's 200 caps. Give me something to "prove' I killed you."
"Now that's what I'm talking about! You don't even know what's going on, do you clown shoes? Ha! You just bought yourself a motherfucking key. Now take it and get the hell out of here."
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Let's get out of here.
"Here's a list of the guys and their last known locations. Word will get around if Tenpenny is killed, but I'll need proof for the others. Bring me back something personal from each of them as proof. Like a key or ring or something."
Dukov is the epitome of class.
So now we have to go Rivet City for the next key.
Alright, this is the guy. Hopefully he is less of an ass than Dukov.
No thanks.
"Sounds like a plan, man."
"All right! You and me, just hangin'."
This guy doesn't get out much.
"Do you know a Mister Crowley?"
"Whoa! That's a blast from the past. My dad knew a dude named Crowley. I never met him though."
So, another sign that Crowley is screwing us over.
"I think Dad said he died when they were checking out some old fort."
"Do you know what they were doing at the fort?"
"Nah. He said that old man Tenpenny hired him and some other guys to go in there, but he never said why. My dad made enough caps off it to set him up good though."
"Can you think of any reason he might want you dead?"
"No shit! That dude wants me dead?"
"If you give me something personal of yours as proof, I'll lie to Crowley."
"Whoa! Is this, like, worth caps? Cause I got needs, man."
Ugh, we have to throw around more caps.
"I'll give you 25 caps for something I can bring to Crowley, to "prove" you died."
I would Speech check him, but all the speech check is a threat, and 25 caps is like nothing. Let's be nice to this guy.
"Oh, yeah! I'm gonna be flying high tonight."
Now I think we did more harm in buying the key from him instead of stealing it. Oh well, not our problem.
2 keys down, 1 more to go. We still need to talk to Tenpenny as well, though he doesn't actually have a key.
Now, it's time to take a trip to Tenpenny Tower.
There's Tenpenny Tower. In the middle of nowhere, apparently they just built this huge tower in the middle of nowhere, and there's no buildings close to it.
At least you can say it's well protected at least.
We run into this ghoul arguing with a man over the intercom.
After awhile he gets pissed off and walks away. I'm sure that this will never come up again at any point in the game.
"For the last time... Get your rotting, ugly, goddamn Ghoul ass off Mister Tenpenny's prive property!"
Yeah, the people in Tenpenny Tower really don't like ghouls, but that's another story for another day.
"I don't think you're talking to the person you think you are."
"Oh? Thought you were that damn Ghoul. Well then. Back to business as usual. Ahem..."
No apology?
"You are trespassing on Allistair Tenppeny's private property. Renters and offical businses only."
"I'm here to see Tenpenny."
"Hahaha! THat's rich. What would a man like Tenpenny want to do with a Waste-rat like you?"
Well, he would invite you over to the tower if decided to blow up Megaton.
"[Speech, 100%] I have a lucrative offer for Tenpenny. Let me in, or you'll come to regret it."
"[SUCCESS] Just a minute. Let's not be hasty. If Tenpenny is interested in what you have to say, I suppose you should get your chance. Though, he normally conducts all his business through Mister Burke."
Mister Burke, eh? Well, let's not mention anything about us killing him back in Megaton.
"If Tenpenny doesn't want to talk to you, then you best leave him alone. If you bother Mister Tenpenny, or any of his residents, I will be very glad to forcibly show you out."
Well, it's better than the constant death threats we get from people in the "good" settlements. Seriously, the game portrays the people of Tenpenny Tower as kind of evil assholes. You even get good karma for killing Tenpenny, who honestly doesn't seem like that bad a guy, except for the whole stupid "Blow up Megaton because it looks ugly" thing.
"Do we understand each other? Good."
They open the gate for us. We're not doing the Tenpenny Tower quest right now, but now we get easy access to the place again.
Their intercom is right at the other side of the wall. Why do they even bother having an intercom then?
Opposed to all the other settlements in the wasteland, it's rather clean and there aren't skeletons littering the place. Apparently, that's what makes them evil. More on that once we actually get to the quest, but I'm just going foreshadow it by saying Tenpenny Tower is just nonsensical and stupid.
I wonder how they got the elevator working. You can't take the stairs to the top of the tower.
Again, Tenpenny Tower looks pretty nice. Those fiends.
So we manage to speech check our past this particular guard too.
This is where we would live if we were psychopaths and blew up Megaton.
So there's Tenpenny sitting out here, doing nothing. I wonder if it's possible to snipe him from far away.
"Do you remember a Mister Crowley?"
"The Ghoul? He's dead. Died twenty years ago. Good riddance too. I hate those shufflers."
"Mister Crowley is alive. I'm here to kill you because you hate ghouls."
These conversation options are way too direct. Calling out your attack is not the smartest idea, and when you choose this option, you really don't know if they'll go hostile instantly or the conversation will continue.
"He's alive? I should have known. It's hard to kill those zombies. You gotta shoot 'em in the head."
Yes, we get the zombie allusions, continue with the conversation.
"Whatever he's paying you, I'll double it."
"[Speech, 100%] I want more than that to spare your miserable life. 300 caps."
We aren't going to kill Tenpenny anyway and we might actually kill Crowley to get those extra 200 caps. I dunno. If I feel like it.
"[SUCCESS] You mercenaries are so reliably predictable."
You know what would be unpredictable? Me flinging you over that balcony to the concrete below.
"100 now, 200 when the job is done."
Next up is the Republic of Dave. Canterbury Commons is the closest location we have to there, so let's fast travel.
Time for another quick trek across the wasteland.
We come upon an interesting location, the Grisly Diner. Huh, wonder why it's call-
Ew. Isn't that a bit excessive?
There's quite a bit of ammo in the back, but it's a trap. Some raiders ambush us right after looting it.
Let's take Sydney's SMG for a test run.
It's awesome. I always make it a point in my playthroughs to get the unique weapons. They're so broken in this game.
We find a Keller family transcript. I'm not sure if we want to get the MIRV this playthrough. Do you want to get it?
So eventually we make it to the Republic of Dave. I like the Republic of Dave, it's one of the silly locations that I actually like in this game.
"I'm not here to hurt anyone. What is this place?"
"This is the Republic of Dave, duh! It's named for President Daddy! But you have to talk to him if you want to stay here."
I hope this isn't another crazy cultist group...
"I think I'd like to meet Dave."
"Okay, I'll take you, but President Daddy doesn't always like new people. Okay, come with me."
There's an awful lot of kids here... At least it isn't Little Lamplight...
Yup, another crazy cult.
"Now, are you applying for citizenship, asylum, or just vacationing in the Republic of Dave?"
"[Speech, 100%] Most exalted President Dave. I am an ambassador from the Wasteland."
I do find the Republic of Dave pretty funny. Dave is so full of himself. (But again, this is another settlement that could be easily raided.)
"[SUCCESS] You are? Excellent. It's good to see that the Wasteland has finally recognized the sovereign Republic of Dave. If the people of the Wasteland are generous and respectful, I might deign to annex them."
That will probably just get you shot.
"Mister President, do you know a Ghoul named Mister Crowley?"
"There's a name I haven't heard in a long time. Before the people elected me President, I worked with a mercenary named Mister Crowley. We were part of an expedition to Fort Constantine."
We're so close now. We just need Dave's key.
"[Speech, 100%] Crowley is alive, Mr. President. I'm supposed to bring back proof of your death."
"[SUCCESS] Alive? I always wondered. He was locked in with a bunch of Feral Ghouls. They won't attack Ghouls, you see. Would you consider taking him a personal item, like this key, and just tell him you killed me?"
"[Speech, 100%] Mr. President, what's so special about this key?"
"[SUCCESS] You need all the keys to get through Fort Constantine. With only one key, there's no point in my going back."
"[Speech, 100%] A gift of the key would be a strategic diplomatic move, Mister President."
Wait, you have to pass a speech check to accept the key? What?
"[SUCCESS] Hmm. Of course it would. I knew that. I was just testing you to see if you would realize it. Here, take the key. It is a gift from the Republic of Dave to the Wasteland."
Let's get the heck out of here, but not before stealing Ol' Painless. Will we ever return to the Republic of Dave? Probably not.
So, there's Fort Constantine just to the south of the tunnel to The Pitt. You're probably wondering why I used a stealth boy. Well, I had to steal Ol' Painless somehow.
This is Fort Constantine. You'd think that big building is where we need to go? Nope, it's that small house on the bottom.
Ol' Painless is incredibly useful.
So let's enter this unsuspecting little house.
This house is really just hiding what's really here in the fort.
We need some more darts for our dart gun. The dart gun is actually a really good weapon.
In the basement there is a Big Guns bobblehead, and a keycard that apparently holds
missile launch codes.
Apparently, someone was already in here. Right next to this dead wastelander we found a stealth boy and sneak skillbook.
So we use this key in order unlock the door to the bunker.
There are a ton of sentry bots down here. Thankfully I found some pulse grenades and mines that absolutely destroy them.
The pulse mines really do some damage against the sentry bots. I just throw them at close range, you don't take almost any damage from the pulse damage.
Launch ICBM?! What the hell? Why would you ever do this?
...
Let's try it.
Oh shit. The lights turn red, and the door behind you locks. It opens up 5 seconds later but still, that's crazy. I wonder where the ICBM was aimed at anyways...
Now we go even further down into the Fort. Whatever we're looking for should be close.
This part is somehow in even worse shape.
Apparently, Tara was one of the mercs that Tenpenny sent down here. She didn't make it, and she has one of the keys on her body.
So we use the keys and this is the big armory of weapons we've been after.
There's a Fat Man and a few mini nukes on the table over there. There's also a medicine skillbook.
Oh look, a set of power armor. It's another one of the T-51b models.
Is the armor any good? Well it depends: Do you own Operation Anchorage?
If you don't, yeah, it's one of the best armors in the game by a long shot.
If you do, it's absolutely worthless. It decays pretty quickly, unlike the near invincible Winterized Power Armor, and while it has a little bit more of damage resistance, that will wear off quickly after some wear and tear. That's one of the problems with Fallout 3's DLC, the new weapons completely outclass already existing weapons in the game. In that sense, I think New Vegas was a little better. There were some geniunely good and useful weapons from the DLC's but the main game still had some of the most effective weapons (Anti-Material Rifle is a prime example.)
Regardless, let's wear it for awhile.
I don't think using a pulse grenade here is such a good-
Huh. Another thing about New Vegas, is that pulse grenades absolutely destroyed people in power armor.
There is an absolute ton of ammo down here though, so it makes the quest worthwhile for us solely for that.
I do like the design of the T-51b power armor in this game. It's mostly pretty true to the old Fallout power armor.
We level up.
Again, putting some more points into energy weapons. We want to max that skill next.
We take Concentrated Fire because there is really no other option. We could take Chem Resistant, but the problem is that I don't use chems much at all.
So that's it for the quest, but we're not quite finished yet.
Let's make a visit to Mister Crowley.
He's not happy with us, for obvious reasons. Let's politely tell him we quit.
With a poison dart. To the face.
Yeah I know it makes people in Underworld hostile, but we can just leave and come back a few days later and they'll be fine. Besides, we have no reason to return here, as far as I remember.
They're already hostile, so let's book it before Dogmeat actually starts killing people.
Well, that ties up a loose end. That's what he gets for trying to trick us.
