Letter #16: A sad ghoul

Hey there sweety pie!

Before exiting the motel room I told Raul all about my quest for an Independent New Vegas. He agreed to support me and suggested we'd go to the Red Rock Canyon, home for the Great Khans. So we exited the motel room and prepared for our ride.

On our way we found an old NCR Ranger. I decided to talk to him. Remember that promise I made to Raul right? The Ranger, Andy, did say he felt a little useless though. He said he used to talk to some other rangers over the radio but then they stopped talkin'. He thought they got tired of him, so I offered to go see what was going on. He refused though. He didn't want them to think that he was havin' trouble movin' on. Then I asked  how did he got injured, since he had told me that his arm and leg wasn't workin' so well. He told me a pretty sad story. The Legion had used a child to lure him into a grenade the kid would drop. Damaged half his body. I told him what I tried to tell Raul. His body was injured, not his head. He got happy and taught me a technique he had learned when on the Rangers. It was a takedown, might come in handy when I run out of ammo eh eh! Point was, Andy felt better about himself. Age can do a number on your body, but your knowledge counts too.

After Andy got in his house and we were about to ride, Raul asked me if he could ask me somethin'. He asked me what I thought of Ranger Andy. What I thought of people who had given all but ended up not being able to do nothing anymore. I told him I thought all the experience earned was invaluable. Then he... opened up to me. A lil'. He asked me if I would be surprised to know if he once was a gunslinging adventurer. And then he told me his story from the begining. He lived in a family farm, before the Great War. Always was quick with his hands, either with a pistol or with a wrench. He told me his farm was far from the explosions so they survived the war, but things got bad quickly after that... He said his family helped refugees that came from Mexico City, where the bombs dropped right on, but that there were so many refugees that they had to start turning folk away. Then folk got violent. They burned his house and trapped all his family inside... He only had time to grab his lil' sister - Rafaela - and go off one window... His parents, grandmother, two brothers and two other sisters... All burnt to death... Raul killed the men that followed 'em while he ran with his sister. He had always been a good shot. Then he figured he should protect his Rafaela rather than go crazy with thoughts of revenge. He stopped there. I asked him if he blamed himself for what had happened then. He wasn't sure, but thought that with all his skills with a pistol, he should be able to do somethin'... I couldn't say anythin' else, he then thanked me for listening to him so kindly. Darn sweety pie... Poor Raul...

We went west and ended up near Goodsprings. I told Raul what the good Doc Mitch had done for me and he told me we should visit. So we did. The Doc didn't have much to say, he was glad to see me but didn't have any stories of late. Goodspring is a fine, quiet town, sure it didn't have anything new happenin'. And I liked it that way.

We went north, the ways of the Red Rock. On the main road there were some cazadores. We killed them and decided to go left, on a path that seemed deserted. While walkin' the path we found many burnt bodies layin' around and at the end of it was a camp swarmin' with those killer flys. Me and Raul hardly handled 'em. We needed to go slow after that fight. Dumb shortcut eh?

When we arrived I recognized the costumes that folk were wearin'. The fellows that gave me Benny's lighter at Boulder City had the same outfit. The ones that aided in my death. Still, I had to check 'em out. I went straight for the longhouse, the only building that wasn't a tent around the place. I talked right to the man who seemed to be the leader. He considered me a cub amongst wolves. I asked him to tell me the story of his people, so I could know about the Khans. I learned that there was an incident with the NCR a while back, in which they slaughtered the Khans' elderly, children, women and sick... Darn. Then Papa Khan, the leader, told me that they had now an alliance with Caesar's Legion. Oh no... I asked him, a bit afraid, for him to break up his alliance with the Legion. I told him that Caesar was just usin' 'em folks and then they'd all be slaves when it was all over. He didn't listen though. I had no more options, so we left the longhouse.

On my leave I was followed by the man who sat next to Papa Khan. He wanted to talk to me about breaking the Khan-Legion alliance. YEE HAA! He said I had to convince specific folk around the Khans in order to make Papa Khan listen. He pointed me out to them. Regis, the man who talked to me, still needed something to convince him, even though he wanted the alliance to be broken. I would do it. The Legion doesn't need supporters. And the Great Khans are good enough to go on without going so low.

So me and Raul had to leave Red Rock to go find a Melissa girl. The other ones I had to convince were all inside the camp so I'd do it when I got back.

It was dark from the night, critters were everywhere. Dangerous critters. Cazadores, Deathclaws, Giant Scorpions... I tried to avoid most. We ended up killin' three of those deathclaws... Sweety pie, those critters scare me to death!

Then we finally found the darn camp where Melissa was.  To convince her, I simply had to say what Regis told me. I had never seen any woman serve the Legion. They used women only as slaves.

They let us sleep at their camp now. We'll be ridin' back to Red Rock in the mornin'.

Love you sweet pie!

Letter #15: Raul The Ghoul!

Hey there sweety pie!

I made my way south to find the Brotherhood of Steel. I also had to go see an old friend regardin' the talent search at the Tops. I decided to first go to the Brotherhood of Steel and then, on my way back North, I'd pass by my friend.

I picked up a weird radio signal approaching the site Yes Man told me to go. It was a normal radio station, but hosted by a Super Mutant! At least it seemed like one! Black Mountain radio... Perhaps I'll go look for the host eh eh!

I got to the top of the mountain without being seen and, knowin' Super Mutants, I tried my best to stay that way. Then I found a building with a radio. I accidently pressed a button and stopped the Super Mutant's radio broadcast and they started talking directly to me. So I did the first thing that came to mind, played Super Mutant. Then loud noises came from everywhere outside the building I was in, shots firin' and Mutants screamin'... They were fightin' each other!

After all the comotion passed I snuck my way to the top of the top of the mountain, where the host would be. Only by then I realised how stupid my idea was! The top had three buildings, one was a storage room, the other was a prison and the other one I didn't get to know what it was. On the prison there was a terminal with one of the prisoner's entries and a locked door. On one of the entries there was the password that unlocked the door. Inside there was a ghoul in a jumpsuit. He said his name was Raul Alfonso Tejada. He had an hispanic accent and was kind of funny. Raul the Ghoul, eh eh! When I told him to enjoy his freedom he sounded like he didn't want to head onto the wastes by himself. So what the hell, we now travel together, eh eh!

When Raul accepted to come with me, the Super Mutant radio host, who had heard our conversation, yelled that I could not take it's Raul. So I knew to expect a fight once I exited the building. And what would you know, Raul the Ghoul was pretty quick on his hand in a gun fight eh eh! And besides that, I found that the Super Mutant host was a hostess! A girl Super Mutant eh eh! Too bad she's dead.

So, together with Raul, we rode to the Brotherhood of Steel! It was very near the Black Mountain, so we had no problem gettin' there. When we got near the place Yes Man told me to go a huge sandstorm rose and we couldn't see very well. It was hard to find anything in that place, it was dark and the sandstorm prevented us from seeing anything. We entered the first door we found, which was hidden in a hill.

Inside there was mostly rubble and a couple o' skeletons. But we had to camp there anyways. I talked with Raul for a long time. I wanted to know more about him. I got to know that he felt useless for being old. I told him that lots of old folk were still kickin' for their communities, being a huge help, but he didn't believe me. So I made myself a promise to find some of those old folks, to show Raul that he didn't need to think like that! We talked a little more about him being from Mexico and how he ended up a prisoner. Then we went to sleep.

When we exited the bunker we were attacked by a Brotherhood patrol, with their giant armor and laser canons, for no reason! We were able to run and hide under a rock, since our weapons wouldn't make a difference against their armor. We hid for 2 hours until we made sure they were gone. I still decided to at least make decent contact with them, even if it was just to try and know why did they attack us!

We entered a bunker similar to the other one. But, once I got by one of the inside doors it closed, leaving Raul locked outside. A Brotherhood guy came talkin' to me and told me to strip all of my weapons, clothes and equipment. If I didn't do it, they'd shoot me down like a dog! They unlocked Raul's path and took us both inside their hidden bunker, to talk to their head man. Once I figured out their motifs I would leave the place and go tell Yes Man what to do. Or so I hoped.

I talked to their leader - which they called Elder - and he told me to take care of a NCR Ranger that was set up in one of the bunkers. I told him I wasn't interested because I wasn't a murderer for hire, but he didn't care, he said he wasn't giving me options. They put an explosive collar in me, so that if I wandered off the Hidden Valley my head would pop off. Darn sweety, I wasn't likin' these rascals one bit! I put on all my clothes back and headed where they told me to.

I found the bunker that the Ranger was usin' and he wasn't there. So I rigged his radio to blow up the next time he used it. Poor fella. I went back to the HQ bunker to report to the Brotherhood fellows. The Elder admired my strategic way of killing the Ranger and took the explosive collar off. He told me I was free to come and go and that he would like to see me again for more missions. But I had seen enough. I exited their bunker with no intents of coming back. I still had to check the Great Khans, the Boomers and some of The Strip's casinos. But me and Raul were very tired. We made our way to nearby Novac, a friendly town which I liked very much, unlike these Steel folk.

We arrived at Novac and rented a room. Those folk liked me so much that they gave me the rom for free, eh eh! So now we're goin' to have a nice, long and deserved nap.

Love you sweety pie!

Letter #14: Never a hat had so much meaning

Hey there sweety pie!

I left the Narrows with Joshua, to carry on Daniel's plan. We were headed to Pine Creek. We were supposed to ride straight to freedom, but we had been told that the White Legs were causin' trouble. They were desecratin' some Sorrows' folk graves, holding some of them prisioners elsewhere and holding a bridge that was a vital stand. Now I know I'm to be damned for this, but the prisioners of war were too much of a detour and the more time we took, the longer we would put every other tribal in danger so... We left them behind.

Near the graves being desecrated were some Sorrows that wanted to join the fight. I told them to go, no more casualties were needed. Then I advanced with Joshua and shot the White Legs dead.

Afterwards it was the bridge. We decided that I'd lure them out of the beach and that Joshua would stay behind, to fire from above. But these tribals were stronger. Not only that, smarter too. They pushed me the other way, making me deal with them all by myself, which wasn't easy at all. After they were dead I tried to follow a water stream, in order to keep myself hidden from more White Legs, but the patch lead to a huge rock we could not climb. By that time it was already morning.

It wasn't really my style, but after shootin' down yet another party of those White Legs I picked up one of their machine guns. It wasn't really my style, but I had to catch what I can to get them tribals, who were gettin' more and more vicious.

We found our way to the Pine Creek, Joshua Graham warned me that Salt-Upon-Wounds would be guarding the place. I had only heard about "Salt-Upon-Wounds" in mumblings by Waking Cloud and Follows-Chalk, I didn't really know who he was. Joshua told me he was the White Legs' leader. A great warrior.

When we approached he came running towards me, saying he'd kill me. Truth is, he was heavily outnumbered. I put both my hands in the air and yelled at him to wait. He stopped and listened to me. I told him, as calmly as I could, that his power was broken and that there was no hope for him to prevail. There was still time for him to leave the place peacefully. He ended up telling me that they'd leave but would return. By then, Daniel's plan would already be fulfilled.

I talked to Daniel, which was at the entrance of the tunnel waiting for me. I told him to go, but he noticed some Sorrows were missing. I told him I was sorry but he wouldn't forgive me, he was so angry... Still, he gave me the detonator and I was to blow up the tunnel entrance as soon as they entered, so that the White Legs could not follow them. And that... Sealed my envolvement with Zion. Before I headed back to the Mojave, there was a package waiting for me. It had Daniel's hat. I smiled and a tear almost came out.

I never saw them again, during my journey back to the Mojave.

Little or no sun was there to welcome me back. I wasn't in a sunny mood either. I know it ended up being the right choice, but I couldn't stop thinkin' about those Sorrows that I had left behind.

Well, back to my Mojave business! I'm now resting for a while and thinkin' about what's next. I was thinking of leavin' Cass to the luxury of Vegas for a while longer. I think I'm heading to where Yes Man told me the Brotherhood of Steel was. Yes. I also had to go to The Legion's headquarters, because Yes Man told me there was an army of robots for me there. I'd go there later.

Love you sweety pie!

Letter #13: My Zion stay is coming to an end

Hey there sweety pie!

As I told you, Daniel asked me to do lots of things. I decided to go first trap the Yao Guai in their caves, because I had been with the critters and heeeell are they tough! When I exited the White Bird's cave it was raining. It was beautiful at first, but it gets me soaked wet and I don' like it no more.

On our way to the critters' cave we were attack by helluvah lot of those White Legs folk. In one of the encounters, a mysterious man appeared, a stranger, saving my life while Waking Cloud was busy and I was reloading. Thank you, whoever you are!

When we approached the Yao Guais' location, Waking Cloud talked to me because she was scared. She had reasons to, Yao Guai were indeed very tough. I told her I planned on blowin' up rocks to block the entrance of the critters' cave, trappin' them inside. We snuck inside the cave and planted the mines in three locations. Then we went back outside and DUCK AN' COVER eh eh!

The blast made everything shake like crazy!

After that we decided to go find the map that Daniel asked me, the Great Stairway map. Waking Cloud led me west to go find it. The White Legs attack were becoming more and more frequent, they were starting to scare me. The place Waking Cloud took me was called Mourning Glory Cave. It was guarded by two Yao Guai, so I was afraid for what could be inside.

Waking Cloud did not thing we would go inside, because once we entered she became very worried. She told me we should not be there, because the place belonged to the "Father of the Cave". I didn' know who that Pa was, but I had to do what Daniel asked me! She said that he was the God of the New Canaanites. I continued to do what I had and Waking Cloud followed me. Well, apparently it wasn't so important, was it?!

At the end of the cave I found a sleep roll, a duffle bag and a terminal. I went through the duffle bag and found one of those holotapes that I can connect to my pip-boy, which was the map Daniel wanted. Then I looked at the terminal. From what I understood, it was a diary of a Great War survivor... Darn intense, sweety pie..!

We left the camp and next on the list was dealin' with some White Legs' traps. Short walk, everything in Zion's close-by! On my way there, as we tried to sneak with the help of rain and the night, a giant radscorpion appeared from behind us. Luckily, a huge dog was nearby and decided to help us. I pet him, but he didn't stay with us for long though. Then we got at the place. I was able to disarm one of the traps, but then we were spotted and I had no choice to kill all those White Legs who were layin' down those traps.

Then for the last assignment, dealing with the White Legs camp. Daniel said to deal with them, but probably meant to kill them all. I would think of something else, if possible. When we approached, Waking Cloud told me that if we stole a war totem that the White Legs placed in their camp they'd lose the will to fight. Hot damn, these tribals are heck of a supersticious! We stole that war totem from the first camp we went to and then headed to the second camp. The second camp was harder though, because it was surrounded by mountain, only had one entrance. So we had to shoot to kill.

We made our way to the Narrows as fast as we could, because the White Legs were furious after that attack. We even swam through the river, to be quicker. I lost my hat on it, we didn't even have time to go back for it.

When we arrived, Daniel was sitting with Joshua at the Sorrows' camp. I spoke with Daniel and told him I got everything. He told me knew Joshua's intentions of killing all the White Legs, but he still wanted to leave Zion, having nothing to do with the White Legs, living both tribes at peace. I was forced to make a decision. Of course, I remembered what I wanted to do for the people of the Mojave. Liberate everyone so that all could live at peace, the way they wanted. I had to tell Daniel I was with him. If there is a shot at peace, I will be quicker than my own shadow in unholsterin' my weapon an' takin' the darned shot.

Now we rested for the night and while we did Daniel exited with other Sorrows small groups. Me and Joshua are in charge of taking the remaining groups off of Zion. I'll let you know how it went love.

Love you sweety pie.

Letter #12: Weird tribals

Hey there sweety pie!

We exited the bus camp and climbed to a park ranger station, which gave us a clear sight to all Zion. It was trully beautiful baby eh eh! After we left that place it was already nightfall and we were attacked by giant critters, a scorpion and two mantises... It was a tough fight honey, Zion has some mean critters!

We needed a place to camp again, because of the night and all the critters. We arrived at the Fishing Lodge, where we went to find walkie-talkies and after we found them we slept in the couches there. When we left the Fishing Lodge water started falling from the skies. Follows-Chalk laughed at my reaction and said it was normal and that Joshua called it "rain". Mojave never "rain"s...

We headed north through the valley to find the medical supplies and the lunchboxes Joshua needed. The medical kit was at a ranger station and it was contaminated. I remembered Rose telling me that she once sterilized a medical tool she had in order to prevent her wounds from infecting, so I gave it a shot. I used a bottle of vodka to sterilize all the contaminated tools. I'm no Doc Mitchell, but I guess I did a reasonable job eh eh! I found me a hat there, too. It's not a good hat, but it's a hat!

After the ranger station we headed to the pre-war General Store, where we found a bunch of those lunchboxes. Then we had to go to Daniel, of the Sorrows tribe. Follows-Chalk led the way, since he knew where it was. When we got there we were greated by a bald woman with a weird, giant glove who seemed scary.

I met Daniel, who felt sorry for my caravan. He didn't seem a tribal, though everyone respected him. I handed him the supplies I got, but he asked me for more help. I didn't mind at all, he and Joshua really wanted to leave Zion and have better lives. He wanted me to scout some roads for White Legs tribals and to retrieve a map. After that Follows-Chalk said good-bye and returned to the Dead Horses' camp. Waking Cloud, the bald woman who greated me, was told to ride along with me. I'm making new friends everywhere eh eh! When Waking Cloud talked to me she said that her shaman, White Bird, wanted to talk to me. I had no idea what a "shaman" was, but I accepted.

White Birds' cave was inside the Sorrows' camp. He was a tribal, like the others, who told me that he would give me "visions of truth" if I brought him sacred roots. I didn't understand nithin', but Waking Cloud led me the way. She appointed me to all the roots and then we went back to her shaman. He prepared a tea with the roots which was awful and my vision blurry like someone spat in my eye with snake oil. Then he told me to go to a cave and retrieve the paw of the Ghost of She. Once again, I did not know where it was, so Waking Cloud lead the way.

On my way out of the camp Joshua appeared. He recited the Bible and his point was that the White Legs couldn't be escaped from and should be dealt with, something the Sorrows did not understand. He said the White Legs butchered all teh New Caanenites that fell behind, even children. But still, I understood Daniel's side. If they ran, everyone could leave and I doubt the White Legs would go through the trouble of following the Sorrows.

Then we found the Ghost of She's lair, me and Waking Cloud. She was a critter like the one I saw with Follows-Chalk when I arrived at Zion, huge with some fur and big claws. She was very tough and took many explosive shots from my grenade launcher to kill her. Waking Cloud had a bad time too, but she got well. I chopped her paw off and then it was time to return to the camp.

When I returned to White Bird he told me a lot of things, but actually none of them made sense to me. He also gave me a glove made out of the Ghost of She's paw. So that's how Waking Cloud got her glove. Now, after all that, it is time for me to rest.

Love you sweety pie!