Bab 353: Downfall of Death...-Claws

Afton returns to his group looking no worse for wear, they'd been dutifully holding the position while what sounded like a war was going on. Though, the fact that Afton was standing here right now meant that the group of Deathclaws had been dealt with.

Before he says anything else, he walks over to Dog-meat and waggles his finger at the animal, "Bad dog. Don't take eggs from Deathclaws nests"

The Cyberdog whines but after doesn't care and continues to tell it off for a couple minutes. Once he was thoroughly satisfied with his 'disciplining' of Dog-meat he turns to the others, "Alright, the Supermutants kill all the Deathclaws, but suffered heavy casualties as a result. You guys ready for another round?"

"You mean luring some more Deathclaws towards us?" Karl asks.

Afton nods, "Yeah. We'll send Dog-meat again... Hopefully, he won't steal any more eggs. I do doubt that the Deathclaws would be willing to send so many out of the Quarry now though, so it'll be pretty easy to kill the stragglers who're baited."

"Our traps killed a few Young Deathclaws by the way." Boone says, pointing over at the Quarry entrance where a few craters and headless Deathclaw bodies were lying.

"Nice." Afton mutters before looking at Dog-meat, "Alright boy, I'm giving you another chance here, go bark at some Deathclaws and come back here... WITHOUT AN EGG!"

"Woof!" the Cyberdog barks before sprinting off towards the Quarry once again.

"Odds that the mutt comes back with another egg?" Karl quietly asks in exasperation.

"Fifty-fifty I think." Boone adds, already looking down the scope towards the Quarry.

And so the group slowly begins thinning out the Deathclaw ranks, Dog-meat luring groups of them, single large males, and once even a brood mother. A couple hours pass and they eventually realise that another problem had sprung up...

"The rest ain't comin' out... Are they?" Karl asks, tapping his foot in boredom.

Afton shrugs, "Well, they must be smart enough to know when not to follow the strange death-bringing dog... That or we've finished them all off already... Which I doubt."

"What are we going to do, sir?" Anja asks, feeling pretty useless as she'd not had to use her weapon for an hour or so now. The Anti-Material rifles doing their jobs very effectively.

"What else is there to do? We go in ourselves. Even if they're all wiped out, we still need to destroy their nests and eggs." he says, getting to his feet.

The others follow a good distance behind him as he slowly approaches the Quarry entrance, having Nyx keep an eye out with her proximity sensors.

Afton enters inside the Quarry and quickly notices the lack of Deathclaws in the immediate vicinity. Though, the group do notice a couple nests lying about here and there. No one attempts to destroy them as of yet however, as the smell would undoubtedly bring the rest of the Deatclaws charging at them.

The group took up a position at a raised point in the Quarry as Afton continued sneaking around, eventually spotting a large group of Deathclaws huddled together in a clearing. There were around three huge brood mothers, most likely the strongest of the pack. They had thick grey scaled hides and stood almost twice as tall as the other adults.

Clearly, they were attempting to protect their young from whatever threat had begun attacking them... That was eerily intelligent for supposed creatures bent on death and destruction, but Afton wasn't about to question his morality after slaughtering most of them already.

So, he dropped to a knee and took up aim, focussing his scope on the temple of the nearest brood mother. Once he knew he had a clear shot, he pulled the trigger and blew its head clean off! He made sure that his silencer was off so the rest would notice and follow him...

Fortunately, they didn't need much other motivation than that. The headless corpse of the brood mother enrages the rest of them as they charge at him. Afton quickly sprints back to the others, explosive .50 cal shots ringing out as they begin firing at his pursuers.

Afton quickly climbs to their position and joins them in firing at the approaching Deathclaws, decimating them before they can even get close. There was the small problem of the Young and Baby Deathclaws charging at them, but Anja and Josie made short work of them with a barrage of rounds.

Similar fights like this continued throughout the Quarry, Afton baiting small groups of Deathclaws and the group killing them all off without much trouble. Eventually, all of the Deathclaws had been wiped out, which only left destroying the nests.

"I know it's stupid to ask, but... How much do you think these eggs are worth?" Afton asks while shaking the yolk from the shattered egg off of his boot.

Karl shrugs, "Oh, I don't know... Five-hundred? Eight-hundred? You'd be hard-pressed to find a buyer though. Only folk who want these are crazies or scientists."

Afton's eyes bulge at the number of caps they'd been smashing, "Why didn't you say so sooner!? These things are worth their weight in gold!" he exclaims.

Karl shakes his head, "Did you not listen to a word I just said? Even if you found a buyer, they wouldn't be able to afford hundreds of eggs... Take some along if you want, but I'm not hurting my back to carry 'em."

Afton reluctantly nods, scooping couple Deathclaw eggs into his backpack... They were headed to New Vegas soon so, maybe he could bet it in a poker game? That seemed like a fun thing to try. "I wouldn't want you guys to touch one of these anyway, any wandering Deathclaw would be attracted by the smell from miles."

"I don't much care about that. Take as many eggs as you want, as long as you promise not to try and hatch one as a pet... I swear to whatever higher-being exists I'll put a bullet through its skull before it can make a squeak."