บท 227: Just Rewards
The group returned to Camp McCarren in relatively good time, the guardsman surrounding the place were more than familiar with them at this point, though, many people made the point to insult Anja when they saw her.
Ghouls weren't particularly liked by anyone in the Mojave... The Brotherhood of Steel and Legion would kill them on sight, while the NCR would reluctantly tolerate them. Afton still remembered the shit that went down in Camo Searchlight. with Aster trying to put the surviving ghouls 'out of their misery'...
The NCR tolerated them enough to shove them all off to a separate station so no one else would have to interact with them... If that isn't disdain of the highest order then Afton didn't know what was. Boone and Karl didn't seem to have a problem, but perhaps they were just holding their tongue on Afton's behalf?
Personally Afton didn't really care, the Brotherhood of Steel indoctrination had almost washed over him, changing his mind about absolutely nothing. If Anja could prove herself then he'd accept her into the group, regardless of her status of a Ghoul.
The group briskly found and walked up to Major Dhatri and Afton didn't even wait to toss two large sacks at him. Once holding the head of Cook-Cook, and the other a disgusting pile of ears formerly belonging to the Fiends.
Dhatri just picks both up and looks into them, nodding with a relieved smile when he sees Cook-Cook's lifeless expression. "Kid, you just made my day... Probably everyone else's as well! This fuckin' psychopath has caused almost enough trouble as many of the Legion high commands. And that's saying somethin'!"
"Just doing our jobs." Afton shrugs and Dhatri nods.
The major looks to a nearby trooper and tosses both bags at him, "Go to the storehouse and grab these guys pay. You know what to do." he says.
The group make small-talk with Dhatri as they wait, the man asking how they dealt with Cook-Cook and looking somewhat confused when they tell him that Anja had actually been the one to deal the killing blow.
Afton could already tell the man's opinion on ghouls wasn't the most complimentary. He shakes his head and decides not to make an issue of it, Anja had probably dealt with many more people worse than Dhatri.
Eventually the trooper sprints back with many sacks of caps in his arms, "5540 caps all counted and double-checked." they say, handing them to Afton.
Afton isn't even surprised when the alerts appear as soon as he touches the bags.
[WELCOME TO LEVEL 34]
[WELCOME TO LEVEL 35]
He doesn't waste any time and just dumps his new skill points into Unarmed and Explovie, maxing out the former and providing him a new Perk. [Grit]
[Grit] : Increases Strength and Endurance as you take damage, the more damage you have taken the more powerful the effect is.
Of course, the Perk wouldn't be complete with a Vaultboy version of the Hulk giving him a thumbs up...
The Perk itself was quite powerful, especially as he got stronger and wasn't as likely to be one shot by a random stray bullet or claw. Thinking about how strong this Perk could be if he wore Powerarmour gave him shivers.
Perhaps maxing his Strength would be a good idea now? He already had 10 Strength in sunlight due to his [Solar Powered] Perk, and with [Grit] gaining superhuman levels of Strength would be a common occurrence. Afton nods to himself, that'd be his next pick.
Next, he looks at the selection of Perks currently displayed before him.
[Light Touch] : While wearing light armour you gain +5% critical hit chance and your enemies suffer a -25% critical hit chance. This is good, but Afton was sure he'd never be using Light armour... Even now his Recon armour is classified as Medium armour, and in future he'd likely be using heavier stuff to protect himself more effectively.
[Sneering Imperialist] : +15% Damage and +25% accuracy in V.A.T.S. to various tribal and raider characters. This one is kinda 'meh', the extra bonuses wouldn't do anything as Afton already had no trouble at all dealing with enemies that came under its effects.
[Mile in Their Shoes] : You have come to understand night stalkers. Consuming night stalker squeezin's now grants bonuses to Perception (+1 PER), Poison Resistance (+5), and Stealth (+5 Sneak) in addition to the normal benefits. Yeah, there was no way he was getting this Perk... Not only did it require you to hunt down some Night Stalkers and harvest a specific organ from them, but you also needed to eat hte organ RAW to gain its effects! Fuck that! The bonuses weren't even that good!
[Irradiated Beauty] : Sleep removes all Rads. As for this Perk? Good, but currently useless to Afton who was already mostly immune to radiation. Most of his rads disappear as he slept anyway as [Rad Absorbtion] didn't just suddenly turn off when he is unconscious.
Afton shakes his head at these Perks, none of them interested him so he'd pick one from the previous level that he had wanted to get.
[Alertness] : +2 Perception when crouched and still. Ye-ep, pretty overpowered.
He selects it without reconsidering his options, the bonus was simply too good to argue against. He then clicks confirm and time resumes, though, he wasn't almost roaring in pain this time...
Both Dhatri, Boone, and Karl all raise a brow at him as Afton stays standing unperturbed.
"Something wrong?" Afton asks, knowing full well they were expecting him to start dying again.
Dhatri coughs into his fist, "Ahem, no. I've got things to attend to, you lot should be prepared though... I'd bet my caps that people'll come wanting to celebrate Cook-Cook's end with you." he says before leaving.
Afton nods as the man leaves, flicking on his Pipboy and taking a look at his status... It's been a while since he last checked.
Afton Parker
Title : [Executioner of the Wastes], [Free Sheriff], [Fiend's Fiend]
Level : 35
S.P.E.C.I.A.L :
Strength : 8
Perception : 8
Endurance : 7
Charisma : 4
Intelligence : 6
Agility : 10
Luck : 4
Skills :
Barter : 21
Energy Weapons : 100
Explosives : 24
Guns : 100
Lockpick : 10
Medicine : 100
Melee Weapons : 100
Repair : 100
Science : 100
Sneak : 100
Speech : 100
Survival : 30
Unarmed : 100
Perks :
[Trigger Discipline], [Heavy Handed], [Rapid Reload], [Torture Techniques], [Educated], [John Wick Style], [Toughness], [Stonewall], [Sniper], [Bug Stomper], [Lord Death v2], [Spies Guise], [Quick Draw], [Adamantium Skeleton], [Ranger Tactics], [Ranger Targeting], [Ranger Awareness], [Mechanicus], [Jury Rigging], [SuperHot Block], [Solar Powered], [Miracle Maker], [Unnerving Presence], [Living Anatomy], [Agility Implant], [Masterful Movement], [Blur], [Uncivilized Weapon], [Rad Absorbtion], [Tough Guy], [Nuclear Friendly], [Explorer], [Eureka!], [Atomic!], [Grit], [Alertness]
Companion Perks :
[Old Wisdom]
[Spotter]
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Niggross
Niggross Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!
บท 228: Around the Campfire McCarren
After checking his status, Afton turns to the others, opening the caps and quickly counting them out before distributing them to everyone. Anja got 1000 caps for her help with Cook-Cook while everyone else got 1500 for the bounty and the Fiend ears.
Anja upon receiving the hefty sack of caps was stunned, she'd never seen so much wealth in one place before... And all of it belonged to her, she didn't know how to react to it at all. Her eyes began shifting around to look for anyone who might try to steal what was now hers. Years spent in the waste had forced her to conceal and conserve anything of value she possessed, and now that she was standing in the open with more caps than she'd ever seen before, her instincts were going nuts!
A hand drops onto her shoulder, causing her to shudder before looking at who it is. It's one of her saviours, the one called Afton. "Calm down, as long as you're with us no one will dare try to steal from you." he says simply.
Anja still wasn't sure whether or not to listen to him, but in the end, he was the one who'd given her the wealth she desperately wanted to defend. She nods at him and follows the group as they begin walking towards the many military tents in the distance.
Afton had heard from Josie that there was someone around here you could buy alcohol from... Of course, this is still technically a military facility, so alcohol was 'frowned' upon. Even still, apparently most wouldn't bother you if you were drinking, only saying something if it affected your work or those around you.
He walked around a bit until he found a rather put-out-looking Josie sitting in a lawn-chair do nothing. He raises his hand in a friendly gesture and waves at her, "Yo."
She glances over at his voice and gives reciprocates with a restrained smile, "Hey Afton, what's up?"
"Just claimed the bounty on Cook-Cook and was looking to buy some drinks. You wouldn't mind telling me where to get some right?"
Josie shakes her head, "I wouldn't, it's not like I can get into any more trouble."
Afton raises a brow, "Why's that?"
She sighs, "I got reprimanded for, and I quote, 'Destroying a pre-war artifact'... You'd think they'd be happy about vital flaws in military equipment being repaired."
"What'd you do?" Afton inquires, wanting to know if he could help her in some way.
She just smirks at him, "It wasn't anything I did, but instead something you did... Your repairs on the trucks were 'too good', the other mechanics thought that I'd replaced the parts, making command go ape-shit."
Afton's almost struck stupid by this revelation... Yeah, he probably should have seen that coming. The worst part was he couldn't deny replaces the parts as his [Mechanicus] Perk literally reversed time on them, he'd need to reveal his supernatural abilities in order to get her out of the mess he'd pushed her in. He scratches the side of his face with a sheepish look, "Ah, I'm sorry?"
Josie just shakes her head, "Don't worry about it. I'd have done it sooner or later so no point in dwelling on it... As for drinks? I myself could use a pick-me-up." she says, gesturing for the group to follow her as she hops out of her lawn-chair.
She leads them to a quiet area of Camp McCarren where a shady-looking guy sitting atop some crates was silently waiting. Afton let Karl do the talking as he purchased a few bottles of scotch, whisky, vodka, and tequila.
Once done the group grabbed a couple unused lawn-chairs and created a small campfire with bits and pieces of rotten wood that were lying around. Josie was still being punished, though why her punishment was to restrict her from working was a mystery to Afton. Perhaps they knew how much she loved those trucks and forced her away from them? He shakes his head, whatever the case, Josie, Afton, Karl, Boone, and Anja were sat around the campfire drinking.
Occasionally someone came by to thank or congratulate them on killing Cook-Cook, but all in all it was relatively peaceful. Though, one woman called Betsy had tossed some caps at them and joined them to drink.
Soon after that more and more people ha decided to join in, even Major Dhatri could be seen milling about. Afton was sure what they were doing breached NCR military law, but no one seemed to care.
The next day after things had settled down Afton headed over to the guest bed the NCR had provided to Anja to see if she wanted to join them or not.
He found Anja sitting upright in her bed, she looked incredibly uncomfortable and kept glances towards the door as if she wanted to leave but didn't know if it was appropriate or not. Of course, Afton had no doubts she could sneak out if she wanted, he'd seen how easily she'd avoided the Fiend that chased her. The only reason she'd almost been caught was the... Unique smell she exuded...
He walks towards her while making his presence known, "Yo." he says, causing her to jolt in surprise. "Have you thought over my offer?"
She gave him a confused look for a moment before remembering what he'd said the day before. "I-... I don't know. Why would you want me with you anyway? I'm not a fighter at all, people immediately hate me, and-"
"You may not be a good fighter now, but I see potential in you." he says really meaning his words. She had 9 Perception and 8 Agility for god sake! She was built to be a gunslinger! All she needed was someone to teach her and she'd be one of the best... Though, Afton was more leaning towards making her some kind of assassin as opposed to a gunslinger. He'd need to find some way of preventing her 'unique scent' from revealing her though.
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Niggross
Niggross
Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!
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