The HQ's were simple but sufficient, consisting of just one single room with a small desk, a bed, a nightstand, and a bureau for clothes. The walls were undecorated, but the room was well-lit and had a single window to let in natural light. Perhaps the most crucial part was that it felt comfortable. It wasn't four stars at the Ritz, but it would undoubtedly do the job.
Once Maxwell had shown me to my room, he left to go to his own, which was closer to the front desk than mine. His room was connected by the doorway beside the desk, while my room was located through a door along the main hall. That door led to a hallway with seven other bedrooms next to mine, as well as a public bathroom at the end. Part of me wondered just how much the building followed the laws of physics, because I had a nagging feeling in the back of my head that between the three different halls, the bedroom branch, and the other rooms I hadn't seen yet, things weren't adding up.
After checking out the room, I quickly transferred all of my things into it, which was basically just the Soldier's Kit at this point. After stacking my armor on the bureau, I put my pistol on my nightstand and leaned my rifle beside it, so they were both within reach.
I had to continuously remind myself that, despite how nice the hall looked, we were still stranded in the middle of the Fallout universe. Threats abounded all around us, and there was a very real chance that something would stumble on us soon. The juxtaposition between the interior of the bedroom and the view outside was daunting and startling.
Losing sight of most of it as darkness settled over the world did help with that in the slightest. Instead, it weighed on me, the threat of something sneaking up on us almost suffocating. Eventually, I ended up sliding my gun under my pillow, the heft of the familiar weapon finally letting me get some sleep.
The following morning, Maxwell woke me up by knocking on my door. After a brief breakfast, I quickly showered in the bathrooms by the end of the hall. When I got out and was about to brush my teeth, I finally caught a good look at myself in the mirror. Most of it was how I remembered. Short black hair, a smooth face, and brown eyes. I took after my father, with skin that tanned easily and expressive eyebrows. At least, that was what my mother used to say.
However, what I did not find was about ten to fifteen years of wear and tear. I turned thirty-six just a few months ago, but now, at least judging by my looks, I couldn't be past twenty-five. I frowned and quickly got dressed, finding more of the simple T-shirts and shorts combo I had arrived in yesterday in my bedroom drawers. I clipped my holster on so I could carry my pistol, but I left the rest behind, heading to the main hall.
"Maxwell?" I called out, looking around the empty room.
"Is everything alright, Sir?" He asked, his voice coming from the doorway that led to his room.
"Why am I younger than I was?" I asked, more than a bit confused. "Did the… entity that brought me here de-age me or something?"
"Sir… You died…" he pointed out, now standing in the doorway with his own confused look. "Compared to that, how could your body being back in its prime be considered strange at all?"
Any thoughts I might have built up shattered under his statement, which I had to admit made sense. My consciousness and soul were the same, but this body was new, so why would it be worn down? On top of that, being at my prime meant I was less likely to go and get myself killed because I couldn't keep up with my soldiers, so complaining about it seemed stupid.
With breakfast and morning rituals complete and I had recovered from my slight but mostly mitigated breakdown, Maxwell and I made our way to the front desk. It was time to start the day and get to work. The faster I started earning things through quests, the faster I could have some advantages that might help me survive this hell hole.
Once we were ready, Maxwell searched through his documents before pulling out what he was looking for. This time, rather than pulling out a single quest, he pulled out a stack of five, placing them on the desk between us.
"Well, Sir, it appears that the tutorial quests are, in fact, over. It is time for you to pick your first true tasks," he said, spreading the options out like he was dealing cards at a casino. "But before we dive into selecting one, perhaps we should go over quests and how they work over time."
"Jesus, another layer?" I asked, rubbing my forehead. "If this gets any more complicated, I'm not sure I will be able to keep up."
"That is what I am here for, Sir. Rest assured, I will keep you from missing anything," He said with a confident nod before gesturing down to the quests. "Now, first off, every day, you will receive one new quest, until you have a total of ten. The entities saw fit to start you off with five so that you had a variety to choose from right from the start."
"Fantastic," I said woodenly, waiting for Maxwell to continue.
"Now, quests can be denied at any time to make room for new ones, but once they disappear, whether you ever get it, or even something similar again is up to random chance. Sometimes, quests can also have an expiration date, a timer that says they must be completed by a certain time, though this is rare. Less rare is a countdown, one that starts you select the quest. This will require you to complete that quest before the countdown runs out, but that is a bridge we can cross when we get to it."
As Maxwell talked, I did my best to commit his words to memory as best I could. I also watched as he pointed out where the expiration date would appear, tucked into the top left corner.
"Once a quest runs out of time, it disappears in a manner similar to as if you denied it," Maxwell continued. "Taking a quest and then dropping it does the same thing."
"But timers on quests won't happen very often, right?" I asked, looking for confirmation.
"As far as I have been told," He assured me. "Now, the last and potentially most important rule is that only you can take and complete quests. You don't have to be the only one doing anything, but you must be involved with the process. What this entails will shift depending on just what the quest is, but you must play a fundamental enough role that you are integral to the process. Like playing bait while others lay in ambush, or holding an entrance against enemies, while others search the building."
I nodded in understanding, waiting for Maxwell to continue. When he didn't, I let out a long breath.
"So, one new quest a day, five to start off with. If a quest is gone, it's probably gone for good," I said, abbreviating what Maxwell had explained, raising a finger as I listed them off. "Occasionally, a quest will have a due-by-date or a timer, and I can't be lazy, even after I get some guys to help. Is that everything?"
"That sounded like the salient points, yes."
"Fantastic," I said stoically before looking down. "Let's pick another quest, shall we?"
Maxwell nodded and spun the quest pages around so that I could read them easily. One by one, I went through them, looking at each task they required and the reward they offered for completing it.
The first two quests required that I kill either four or four, neither of which I was keen to do without backup. Killing them on my own was probably something I could handle. I knew both of those robots had little in the way of actual protection, as well as having some obvious weak spots. The problem was that I would likely have to leave the general area of the connection point, venturing further around the plains I stumbled on, and that was dangerous without backup.
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The next quest was another travel one, but this one wanted me to travel much further along the outskirts of the wide open area I discovered at the end of the first path. It was far beyond what I was comfortable traveling by myself, with way too much space for something to come along and ambush me.
The fourth quest was actually one I was interested in doing, both because I knew I could handle it and because the reward was very useful, even potentially lifesaving. The quest was to return to the large clearing I had found and observe the patterns of any specific group of robots walking around until I had at least gotten sort of decent at predicting where they were going. The robots were clearly more advanced than the ones in the game, having travel patterns that were larger and much more complicated than their digital counterparts, but they could still be predicted to a degree. The reward for figuring out their patterns was a small upgrade to the dark doors, which would show the presence of any threats near the connection point on the other side.
The realization that I could have been ambushed the moment I stepped through the doors was not fun, but the fact that I could get an upgrade to fix that was fantastic. I would absolutely be completing that quest… Just as soon as I finished the one I actually chose.
The final quest, and the one I picked to tackle first, was to gather three large bundles of medicinal herbs, one of, one of, and one of. These herbs were all medicinal, and, in the game, played a key role in a crucial healing mechanic. The reward for gathering all of them was an upgrade to the Standard Soldiers Kit, a pair of that would refresh at the same rate as the rest of the kit would.
Two lifesaving, miracle cures for just about any injury one could incur in the Wasteland. Yeah, with a big enough problem, I could be killed instantly, or injured too severely for stimpaks to help, but a pair of refreshing stimpaks would significantly increase the survival rate of all my soldiers, and myself. Even better, the quest came with pictures and a brief description of where I could find the herbs.
"Okay, the plan is to do this quest first, then to go do this one," I said, pointing at the medicinal herb gathering and then the recon quest. "Knowing if it's safe to step through one of the dark doors will absolutely save us in the future, but for now, a way to heal ourselves is beyond critical, even with the two-day refresh rate."
"Sound reasoning, Sir," Maxwell said, reaching out to vanish the quest I chose. "Your quest has been selected, you are free to attempt it any time you want."`
"Well… no time like the present," I reluctantly said, as admitting it out loud meant I needed to abandon the relative safety of the HQ.
I left the desk behind and headed back to my room, quickly putting on my armor and strapping everything on securely. Maxwell gave me a once over to make sure nothing was dangling or about to come loose, and I headed through the halls, stopping in front of the connected dark door. As if it hadn't been bad enough before, now the concept of something waiting to ambush me on the other side had been confirmed as possible.
After a minute of standing there, hand on the latch, I shook my head, cursed, pulled the door open, and stepped through into the darkness. I crossed it quickly by quietly, my rifle up and the safety off, doing my best to keep my breathing calm as I stopped just before the light, peeking out into the surrounding forest.
I waited there, silently listening to the gentle creaks of the trees, the subtle rustle of the leaves, and the occasional groan of the rusted structure above us. No whining or clicking, no whirring of servomotor or thumping of big metal feet.
Feeling relativity confident there wasn't some sort of mechanical abomination waiting to ambush me, I slowly stepped out into the light, carefully lowering my rifle. The forest was still, save the natural sway of the wind.
I let out a long breath and slowly made my way down the path, stopping once the trees started to pull in close. One of the medicinal herbs, Wild Ember, was most commonly found around wooded areas, according to the quest paper, so, somewhat hesitantly, I stepped off the path, walking into the forest.
Now, I wasn't dumb enough to just randomly walk into the woods with nothing but hope and a prayer. I didn't have the skills or knowledge to navigate this world with any degree of success, so until I got someone who could or had time to learn, I needed to rely on natural landmarks, like the ruins and the path.
The plan was simple. I would walk into the woods about twenty or thirty feet, look around, then turn back. I would then cross the path, walk about twenty or thirty feet into the woods on the other side, look around, and then walk back. After a quick walk further down the road, I would repeat the process, keeping my eyes open for my target.
Within twenty minutes, I found my first Wild Ember flower, almost stepping on it as I walked out from the path. It was much lower to the ground than I realized, a short little stalk less than a foot tall with a single red flower. With a firm grasp of how it looked in my mind, finding more came easier, and after about another twenty minutes, I had a sizable bundle, which I wrapped up and stuffed into my military-style rucksack.
I quickly returned to the path and continued to follow along it, making much better time now that I wasn't making frequent branches into the woods. As I walked, I found a few branches of Ochrebloom, which were most commonly found around paths and roads, but by the time I reached the clearing, I hadn't gathered nearly enough. Still, I stashed them in my bag, focusing now on Valley's Blush, which grew in more open areas.
I wasn't about to go bursting into the clearing, running along looking for the medicinal flower. Instead, I paused at the clearing, watching the various robotic animals walk around. The closest was a pod of grazers, using their antlers to trim the grass and small pushes, sucking up the trimmings to convert into… whatever they called the on their backs. With them were several watchers, patrolling around the herd, keeping an eye out for any dangers. Across the river was a group of scrappers, the metal zoomorphs focusing on some sort of scrap pile, their buzz saw jaws sending sparks flying.
Even further in the distance, the I had seen before, the one with the large saucer-like head, was even further away than it had been previously, still plodding along. I was pretty sure it was my imagination at this distance, but I felt like I could still feel its footsteps.
Several other small pods stood around the plains, groups running from just a few to dozens strong. I carefully watched them all, before pulling back further into the woods, then walking along the side. Thankfully, by some miracle, it didn't take long to locate a few patches of the tall, multi-bud red flower. There was even a slight ridge I could hide beside to reach it, staying mostly in cover the entire time.
I carefully crouched down, waiting for the nearest robots, a group of striders and watchers, to change their path and begin heading away from me. Once they did, slowly but steadily, I walked out of the forest cover, crossing to the ridge and making my way along the rocks and raised ground, staying as low as I could. I probably looked like an idiot, crouching like a frog and waddling along a slight line of rocks and raised dirt, but I felt like I was protected, and honestly, that was half the battle at that point.
When I reached the tall grass, long stalks of green and tan growth, I slowly pushed through it, using it as cover as well. Dotted inside the large patch were the stalks of Valley's Blush, which I quickly picked and stacked together, cradling it under my arm so that, in a pinch, I could use my rifle and still hold my prize.
Thankfully, by some small miracle, the gap in the patrol or migration of zoomorphs I spotted stayed open long enough for me to pick the plants and return to the forest cover, where I wrapped the plants up and pushed them into my rucksack.
Fighting the urge to move quickly, I slowly moved in the shadows of the trees until I once more reached the trail, following it all the way back to the ruins. I kept my eyes open for more Ochrebloom, but unfortunately, the path was already cleared. Thankfully, there were two other paths connected to the ruins, I just had to follow them and hope they had more of what I needed.
I made my way up and around the ruins, eventually finding the path I had spotted the day before. After a quick check of the surroundings, I began to follow the trail, taking it slow since this was my first time doing so. I walked for another fifteen minutes, picking up two more stems of the last medicinal herb, still looking around carefully for more.
As I continued to follow the path, it met up with a river, which I had to assume led to the river I spotted running through the long, massive clearing down the other trail. I followed the trail, now walking upstream, for another five minutes when the forest suddenly cut off into a vast lake. There were several small islands dotted in the considerable body of fresh water, but the most eye-catching feature was directly across from the river I had just been following.
There, with massive long tentacles dipping into the lake, was a. It was covered in trees and moss but was still large enough that I could easily see its outline. It the other tall, saucer-headed robot and looked like some sort of squid from sci-fi hell. Even with it clearly dead, a massive hole blown along one side, its face missing more than half, it still sent a shiver of fear up my spine.
I spent five minutes there at least, crouching beside a rock, staring across the calm waters of the lake, and just watching the ancient dead robot. Eventually, I shook my head clear and turned around, heading back along the trail. I had a quest to finish, I could spiral into fear and dread later.
