“CONTSINMENT BREACHED. UNKOWN LIFEFORMS DETECTED ON UPPER LEVELS.”
The elevator door opens onto the topmost level for the first time in generations.
As Elara stepped into the darkened corridor, Vault alarms continue to blare. She was here because there was no option. If something had entered the Vault, that meant that either the door had been opened or...well...something more catastrophic.
She hoped it was the former.
She had been equipped with a trusty 10mm pistol and tasked with three goals: clear out whatever had entered the Vault, ascertain their means of entrance, and fix it, ensuring the integrity of the Vault.
Elara briefly wondered why she had been chosen. The Overseer has been most insistent it was her.
Yes. I've decided to start a Fallout Wasteland Warfare campaign, and this time, I'm not rooting it in published scenarios (although I may adapt some), I'm being a bit more creative.
I say more creative, but I'm taking the traditional starting point of a character leaving a Vault. I'm not sure where this is heading, but I'm going to be using a variety of tools to come up with ideas and build my world.
For now though, I'm beginning with a very simple scenario. Elara Vance (Sole Survivor - Day One) must clear and unknown number of unknown creatures (the blue tokens) out of the top level of the Vault before heading to inspect the door.
Initially, I had laid out a number of searchables (the orange tokens) to help Elara get equipped, but as the game went on the Event 'deck' (the Vault chart from the Capital expansion) I was using three out several more searchables, and so you'll notice that most of the preset ones disappear towards the end as I didn't want her to be too tooled up.
As soon as Elara stepped out of the elevator, she could make out some movement in the darkness. Drawing her pistol, she advance cautiously.
In the gloom she could make out an imaciated form. Elara called to the figure, which turned and began to lumber in her direction and into the torchlight.
It's withered skin, spuless eyes and absent no's gave the figure a ghoulish appearance. A wave of sympathy wash over Elara. This poor person was clearly a victim of the irradiated wasteland outside, and was clearly a threat to the integrity and wellbeing of the Vault.
She opened fire.
The bullets didn't stop the creature, but they did slow it down as it advanced on Elara, its teeth bared. It made two powerful lunges at her and Elara though she was done for, but somehow she evaded its clutches and managed to pump two 10mm rounds into its skull, dropping it to the floor.
As she looked down on the poor wretch who has clearly once been human, her pipboy gave out the telltale click of radiation. Her suspicions had been correct. The creature was radioactive and she had been exposed to it.
(I actually forgot to apply the radiation damage at this point, but I did remember later. You will spot when.)
Pushing on in her search for more intruders, Elara wandered through rooms filled with equipment she had no clue as to the purpose of. What had Vault-Tec intended for this?
Amongst the debris she came across items that might be helpful should she have to mend or replace elements connected to the Vault door: an electric fan and a tube of Wonderglue.
Elara also stumbled upon an unused packet of Med-X. It looked like the painkillers had been dropped years before, when all the critical supplies were being moved down below.
She hoped she wouldn't need them and could just drop them off in the infirmary.
The eerie stillness was unsettling. These rooms must have been passed through by those first inhabitants of the Vault, who had descended below the Earth turning their backs on everything they knew which was about to be destroyed.
Elara wondered how that had felt, how frightened they must have been to shut themselves away.
She was grateful they had. She owed them her very existence.
Suddenly she heard something behind her.
Spinning around and shining a light into the darkness, Elara was shocked to see a six-legged from scuttling towards her.
She was momentarily baffled. She had seen pictures of these insects, 'ants', in books, but as far as she could remember they were usually tiny.
This one was massive!
(I used the Radroach Swarm profile for the Giant Ant, which is sadly lacking from the game.)
Again she fired, chipping its carapace, and she kept firing as it came on, taking chunks out of it until it stopped moving.
She paused for breath.
Didn't ants live in colonies? That was a worrying thought.
Pressing on, Elara found herself in some sort of crew office or storage room. On the shelves she found a pair of binoculars and a hazmat suit.
Although the hazmat suit was slightly damaged, she reasoned that both items would be more than useful if she were required to venture outside.
A sudden noise out in the corridor brought Elara back to the mission at hand. She needed to clear out the Vault.
Creeping out into darkness, Elara spotted another emaciated figure lurching towards her. Were these things common in the irradiated world? Had they 'survived' since the bombs dropped? Or were people living some sort of life out there?
The lurching figure bearing down on her brought Elara back to her senses. Fortunately this one seemed weaker and slower and seemed to missing limbs.
She opened fire, dropping the creature quickly, more quickly than the last one.
As the echo of the shots faded, Elara realised that the alarms had stopped. Standing in the darkness and silence, she realised that the first part of her mission was over.
As Elara moved towards the final door before the main entrance chamber, the intercom suddenly cracked into life with the distorted voice of Overseer:
"Elara, we've run diagnostics and determined that the fault is with the external sensors. A failsafe has tripped and opened the Vault door. You need to got out to fix them."
She had feared as much.
Reloading her pistol before struggling into the hazmat suit, Elara braced herself for the unknown outside world.
Well, that was fun. I learned a little about not putting too many searchables on the table and that I should also glance through the events table during set up to ensure that they won't unbalance the scenario.
I might also pick up the Into The Wasteland expansion which is designed to enhance solo play.
Anyway, expect more of this.
Nice narrative batrep! Thanks for sharing this. I've considered doing the same for a long time.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you've already added characterisation to your protagonist!