Volume 1
Oct 17, 2018 15:41:01 GMT -5
Post by OutsidR on Oct 17, 2018 15:41:01 GMT -5
Written by: John Baumgartner (baumgartner@cox.net) 2016
"All Rights Reserved"
(Permission granted by Mr. Baumgartner to edit his works.
Coloring, punctuation etc.)
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Old Roads Volume 1: "Vagabond Blues"
'FOR A FEW BOTTLECAPS MORE'
'FOR A FEW BOTTLECAPS MORE'
This fan fiction of “For A Few Bottle Caps More” is a written commentary of a game played in "Fallout: New Vegas" by the author in the summer of 2016. It is written as a hobby with no intent of commercial release. It may be freely used as long as I am given credit as the author and the usage is noncommercial. In other words you can peruse it, enjoy it, make copies and share with your friends, etc. as long as no money is involved and I am given credit as the author.
The game world of 'Fallout: New Vegas', created by and owned by Bethesda and subject to the rules of the game license that we all had to agree to in order to play the game.
SPOILER ALERT FOR 1ST TIME FALLOUT: NEW VEGAS PLAYERS:
Although these Spaghetti Western Posts are in no way a Wiki type game walk through, each of Tuco’s adventures is selected at random from an ongoing list of possible actions and destinations. As such he will definitely encounter some of the game’s surprises along his wandering progressions. Be warned!
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CHAPTER 1
'Courier Six from the River Styx'
(The Courier Returns)
When he died and went down to the regions below
Where the waters of Styx and Eternity flow
He roared and he bellowed he would be rowed back
For his soul it was thirsty and wanted some sack
“You were shot when you died,” the Boatman replied
“And you know not the pains that to death are allied”
“Take me back,” he replied, “if I know not the pain,
“Take me back, for its fit I should die once again.”*
Out where the past is lurkin, lookin'n towards them Vegas lights
It lies there a-waitin', a-glow in the dead men's sights
For the wind blows cross the ruins, at the end of another day
Come on ye desert forager there's a hand of cards to play
Come ye play the cards of yesterday
When the bets the gambler's lay
Can ye hear the money chunkin' as the cards begin their play
On the old roads to perdition where the dead have gone to stay
Come ye back ye high hand roller, ye must ante or ye must pray
Come ye back to the glitz and the neon lights where the gods have feet of clay
Come ye back ye desert forager, be the king and not the trey
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* Paraphrased from "Mandalay" by 'Rudyard Kipling'.
* Paraphrased from "Mandalay" by 'Rudyard Kipling'.
It begins in 'Doc Mitchell’s' triage. Tuco regains consciousness after his assailants hijacked a 'Mojave Express' parcel and left him for dead in a shallow grave above 'Goodsprings'. There is bloody vengeance in his eye and the ecstasy of gold, in the calculation of what potential treasure might be associated with a 'Platinum Poker Chip', bearing the logo of the mysterious Mister ‘Not At Home’ (House).
But, 'Lady Luck' reveals the cards. Her nimble fingers expertly shuffle the ‘Lucky 38’ playing cards and make the cards dance as she lays out five card poker hands. The cards in the first hand get a look, then the reshuffle and another deal, and then a third. The cards vanish and a book, the current novel she’s reading appears (it’s ‘With the Lightnings’ by 'David Drake'). She randomly flips the book open to the back half and the last two digits of the page number are 63. A path into the future for Tuco Ramirez has been chosen by the cards and the book.
He will be staying in 'Goodsprings' for a while searching mailboxes, houses and others of the ramshackle clapboard buildings for resources and resolve the dialog trees with 'Sunny and Trudy'.
And so the chase begins, down the ancient broken and crumbling asphalt of old highway 160, down the hills from 'Goodsprings', past the Jean Sky Diving, right turn south down the divided but just as decrepit U.S. Highway 15 to 'Primm'. Trudy: There’s no time for tutorials or for losers like Joe Cobb. The ‘Daisy Suit’ and his 'Great Khan' companions have gone south along US 15 to turn east south of Primm and then north up highway 95 to the Strip.
He’s stopped at the entrance to 'Primm' by a sentry, dressed in a khaki set of military fatigues and labeled ‘NCR’. The sentry warns him against entering 'Primm' and the gangs in and around the town.
HAH! Let the escaped convicts and 'Gangers' beware of him.
Primm is divided into two parts by Highway 15. On the west is an NCR camp, and across an overpass trapped with fragmentation mines is the eastern half consisting of a decaying wooden roller-coaster structure, the 'Vikki and Vance Casino', The 'Mojave Express Offices', and the 'Bison Steve' hotel and casino.
Three blasts with his favorite weapon, the 20 gauge Sturdy Caravan Shotgun ... BLAM! … BLAM! ... SNICK! … SNACK! … BLAM! … And the ‘minefield' is cleared.
He ejects the last spent casing and inserts a fresh charge and strolls up the street between the 'Vikki and Vance Casino' and 'The Mojave Express'. A pair of figures in mercenary attire emerge from the casino building. They are not friendly, escaped convicts probably, and the varmint rifles they point in Tuco’s direction, state that they do not consider him to be one of their number.
Well … to put it bluntly … Tuco is not a man to turn down such an invitation. He shifts his hip in the ‘too close to miss’ direction of the nearest figure and pulls the trigger for the upper barrel … BLAM! … The escaped convict becomes a ragged doll, thrown to the pavement in a shower of torn fabric, flesh and splattering blood … he shifts his hip again and pulls the trigger for the lower barrel … BLAM! … The convict’s cohort follows suit.
The 'Mojave Express Office' is empty but he finds 'Johnson Nash', the town’s 'Mojave Express' manager in the 'Vikki and Vance Casino'. Now, 'Johnson' is a man of many talents, Express Manager, Casino proprietor, and Trader. There was some trading, discussions of delivery orders and a mystery courier who vanished when he saw Tuco’s name, but when the question of the whereabouts of the ‘man in the daisy suit’ arose, 'Johnson' pointed across the town square to the 'Bison Steve Hotel' where 'Deputy Beagle' – the best source of information on that subject - was held hostage by a gang of 'Joe Cobb’s' former cellmates.
Once again the sound of gunfire echoes through the street, and the timbers of the decrepit roller coaster in the town’s square, and inside the 'Bison Steve' the body count rises on the first floor. The 'Gangers' on the second and third floors are spared the shotgun carnage when Tuco finds 'Deputy Beagle' tied up in the kitchen. But freedom from bondage is not to be for the hapless deputy. His indirect and evasive responses to his rescuer stretch Tuco’s patience and temper.
BLAM! ... BLAM!
The air within the 'Bison Steve', is shredded by twin blasts of 3.0 Buckshot and the ‘SNICK – SNACK’ of a reload. The air still reeks of cordite as Tuco reaches into the bloody garment and retrieves 'Beagle’s' Journal.
The Deputy’s journal confirms what 'Trudy' has told him and the chase will now move on – first to 'Nipton' and then north to 'Novac'. There are two possible routes to 'Nipton' and Lady Luck will once again intrude into our story in the next chapter. First east by canyon past 'The Prospector’s Den', to the railroad tracks leading to 'Nipton', or secondly along the I 15, Nevada 164 direct. Also, depending on the progression of events, a return trip to 'Goodsprings' to deal with logistics or the 'Powder Gangers' may be necessary.
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*Lyrics paraphrased from a collection of old 18th and 19th Century Fox Hunting Poetry and Songs, as collected by 'John Chaworth Munsters', 19th Century Master of the South Nottingham-shire and 'Quoin Hunts', in the google archives.
CHAPTER 2
Crime and the Pursuit of Vengeance:
(In Pursuit of the Daisy Suit)
The flight of that dandy! Oh witching and sweet
Is the music earth steals from his murderous feet;
No whisper of lover, no trilling of bird
Can stir me as hunting that coward have stirred.
The fine checkered coat, a poor man’s despair
Is a visual footprint I’ll follow with care
That jacket and plunder, that strange poker chip
Run swift with that fortune, be sure not to trip
On the wings of the morning, I’ll hear your feet fly
In the hush of the night-time I hear them go by
The thoughts of that bullet, the chip and the kill
An anonymous grave on top of that hill
When you lay down to slumber no spot you can choose
That won’t ring to the rhythm of my courier’s shoes,
And under the desert no grave be so deep
But the cry of my vengeance shall sound in your sleep.*
Crime and the Pursuit of Vengeance:
(In Pursuit of the Daisy Suit)
The flight of that dandy! Oh witching and sweet
Is the music earth steals from his murderous feet;
No whisper of lover, no trilling of bird
Can stir me as hunting that coward have stirred.
The fine checkered coat, a poor man’s despair
Is a visual footprint I’ll follow with care
That jacket and plunder, that strange poker chip
Run swift with that fortune, be sure not to trip
On the wings of the morning, I’ll hear your feet fly
In the hush of the night-time I hear them go by
The thoughts of that bullet, the chip and the kill
An anonymous grave on top of that hill
When you lay down to slumber no spot you can choose
That won’t ring to the rhythm of my courier’s shoes,
And under the desert no grave be so deep
But the cry of my vengeance shall sound in your sleep.*
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Tuco is in 'Primm', standing in the kitchen of the 'Bison Steve Hotel and Casino'. The mixed smells of gun smoke and blood, are a taint of violence stabbing through the musty aroma of decay and unwashed convicts that had permeated the interior. The deputy lies dead, along with the bodies of his captors but his journal indicates the perpetrator’s flight path.
Lady Luck, dictated the bullet and blood strewn route along the highways and byways leading to 'Nipton'. The chapter begins with Tuco’s exit from 'Primm', with fresh apparel and a considerable weapons upgrade to a cowboy repeater. His first stop along the way, was the abandoned Nevada Highway Patrol station – punctuated by gunfire from both 'NCRCF' convicts and 'Jackal Gangers'.
A short rest inside the station was interrupted by the unfortunate and soon to be deceased, 'Malcom Holmes' and his tale of 'Festus' and a legendary prewar 'Blue Star Bottle Cap' treasure. Thus it was that with a slightly holed and bloodstained set of Trader’s apparel, Tuco continued on his journey to the next stop – The 'Nipton' Road Rest Stop. It is at the 'Nipton' Road Rest Stop, where a trio of tender, young Radscorps would someday provide the fixings for one of 'Ruby Nash’s' delicious Radscorp Casseroles.
From the 'Nipton' Road Rest Stop, a pair of gigantic figures dominate the western skyline – Tuco, continues towards them and discovers the NCR’s 'Mojave Outpost'. Time to don his ‘new’ Roving Trader’s duds and see if the NCR yokels have any visiting trader caravans or a trading post, where he can acquire a cold brew and more .357 mag ammo for his repeater.
At the bar, there’s a belligerent shotgun toting cowgirl, with an attitude that stirs old memories of his young days in that pit of un-redeemed sin in California, called 'The Den'! This girl – 'Cass' - might be a granddaughter of his old feisty widowed landlady, who rented spare beds to her ‘boys’, and stood up for them when no one else would. Who knows … perhaps when he’s dealt with the 'Daisy Suit' and his 'Great Khan' cronies, he will come back this way and see if there’s the same steely empathy in this one’s heart, as with his ‘Granny Grudge’ in the mean streets of 'The Den'.
The road to 'Nipton' goes ever on. Giant ants defending the corpse of a giant Radscorp, an ancient airplane crash site patrolled by wandering Radscorps, and then … The 'Nipton' Road Pit Stop and the 'Jackal Gang'!
More gunfire as the 'Jackals' counterattack and an improbable tragic drama of 'Thomas and Jacklyn' stumbles into the fusillade of gun smoke and bullets. When it‘s over Tuco emerges several .375 mag bullets lighter and with another fist full of 'Blue Star' bottle caps.
Day’s end at 'Nipton', Tuco finds a grotesque and hellish spectacle at the entrance and a crazed 'Powder Ganger' fleeing into the desert babbling about winning a lottery.
How will Tuco’s hardened and chaotic heart react to 'Caesar’s Legion' and the cold blooded, calculated violence perpetrated on the town? Once again there are several possible outcomes – violence begetting violence in the streets as he wages war on 'Caesar’s Legion', a contemptuous exchange of views and parting of the ways without violence, or an agreement made in hell to spread the word of 'Nipton’s' fate and 'Caesar’s Legion'.
Depending on the outcome, will Tuco remain for plunder or proceed by any of the several possible routes to 'Novac'. Lady Luckknows how Tuco will react and his route to 'Novac' but she’s not talking until Chapter 3.
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*Poetry paraphrased from”Hooves of the Horses” by 'William H. Ogilvie'.
*Poetry paraphrased from”Hooves of the Horses” by 'William H. Ogilvie'.
CHAPTER 3
War Crimes and Faster Times.
(The Courier’s Dodge)
(The Courier’s Dodge)
When Caesar’s ponces came to town
To crucify in passion
The courier did not slow down
To sneak was not in fashion
T’was then to show his discontent
He showed the dog helmed master
However fast that Caesar went
He went a little faster*
Having reached 'Nipton' at the end of Chapter 2, Tuco’s predatory and scavenging instincts responded cautiously to this scene of grotesque violence perpetrated on the town. Rather than enter the buildings to search for loot or survivors, he cautiously headed up the street and deployed his binoculars when he saw movement in front of the Town Hall.
His (‘child of the wild’) (survival) skills kicked in immediately! The legionnaires hadn’t seen him and there was no profit to be made while they remained – it was time to leave quietly and continue the trip to 'Novac'!
He passed quickly through the town onto highway 164 and up into the canyon following the broken patches of asphalt. He was not far into the canyon when he came to a roadblock of semi-trailer and automotive wreckage. His keen eyes detected fragmentation mines hidden, carelessly, under traffic cones. Well more fool the 'Gangers' to mess with a Courier wearing a badge and armed with a .375 magnum Winchester lever action carbine.
There ensues a lethal ballet of stealth, spy and shoot, SNEAK ...SPOT ...KER-WAP! ...CLICK_KLACK! A 'Ganger' bites the dust and Tuco levers a fresh cartridge into the firing chamber and drops back down to blend with the background dirt and rock, accented by tufts of tough desert grass to stalk another.
The ruined road climbs upwards past the road block and Tuco emerges having stripped four bodies of caps and useful items. He’s at the foot of a ridge topped by an observation and firing tower, commanding the canyon’s end at the left and the start of a highway junction to the right. On the reverse side of the ridge lies the 'Wolfhorn Ranch', controlling a highway overpass and more highway junctions. Once again Lady Luck intruded into the course of events from the scenic viewpoint at the 'Wolfhorn Ranch' she adjusted the landscape.
The way to 'Novac' looked narrow, twisted and ambush prone, while the road to 'Searchlight' reminded of a prewar multi lane freeway. What a cruel deception the latter proved to be! Another huge, frantic gunfight against a pack of Viper gunslingers in, out and around the wreckage of the raided Farmstead. Alas, as Tuco left the Farmstead body count to the crows, he encountered more bad news. This time from 'Searchlight' – now a radioactive mausoleum instead of a logistics stop over prior to turning north for the final leg to 'Novak'.
Thus Chapter 3 ends in stalemate and it appears that after the gunfight at the raided farmstead, Lady Luck will have no mischief left to play for Chapter 4. But is Tuco’s situation really ‘Novac' or nothing’? There are unresolved issues lurking behind him at 'Goodsprings' and 'Primm' and a long, long road from 'Searchlight' to 'Novac'. Stay tuned for another six gun and gunsmoke posting on the Spaghetti West forum!
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*Poetry paraphrased from “Fox-Hunting” by 'Rudyard Kipling'.
*Poetry paraphrased from “Fox-Hunting” by 'Rudyard Kipling'.
CHAPTER 4
The Coyote Schemes:
(The Coyote)
The Coyote Schemes:
(The Coyote)
The Coyote sniffs the air
He lingers on the desolation and detritus of Armageddon
To catch some evidence of a quests frayed end
To lead him on his next adventure*
'COYOTE SCHEMES':
A nuke attack in 'Searchlight'? … UNBELIEVABLE! His frustrations transcend the flood of gut wrenching emotions into an active, cunning search, for either potential solutions or acceptance of defeat, and other, more profitable prey. That 'Daisy Suit' bird, has aroused every bandit and critter along the trail into in a frenzy of aggression, never seen as a Courier for the 'Mojave Express'. What will this poor little lost Courier find in 'Novac'? A pet deathclaw? Do I have enough ammo? What about healing, food and water?
Go back to the beginning … never checked the cemetery … clues? What do I know …
THE STORY CONTINUES –
As he mulls over his schemes and deductions, Tuco investigates the aptly named 'Coyote Mines'. There, when his inventory is filled to bursting with explosives and ‘sellable’ merchandise, he spins a dynamite dream and makes his decision. What about the robot 'Victor' … maybe the cowboy bot who set the scheme up with 'Johnson Nash' in ''Primm'? Too many questions and the trail is six days cold! What do I know … 'Platinum Casino Poker Chip', must be of value to someone … is the 'Daisy Suit' the ‘SOMEONE’, or just an agent … 'Trudy' said the 'Daisy Suit' wanted to go to the strip … the 'Lucky 38 Casino', like on the poker chip… and 'Chet' said the mysterious 'Mister House' owned it … AH HA! … JACKPOT! A DARING PLAN FOR SUICIDE BY DEATHCLAW – Fast thinking and faster travel to 'Goodsprings', to craft a new approach to caps and payback. Yeah travel back to 'Goodsprings', grab my stash and pick up the grenade launcher.
When he gets to 'Goodsprings', Lady Luck will take command. And he will head either northwest, (30% probability) into the hills, or east, (70% probability) to 'Sloan' and highway 15 and thru onto 'New Vegas'. Much safer and faster that way … what do 'Sunny Smiles' and 'Trudy' know about critters who just get mad when you shoot them?
Onto 'Sloan' and Deathclaw by Dynamite - the shack town at 'Sloan', provided a venue to demonstrate his growing (repair) and (medical) (Mentats plus skill mag) expertise, on a mal assembled generator and an injured mole rat. He also received ear-clogging advisories about Deathclaws.
The progress around the base of 'Black Mountain', played out into an exhausting marathon of crouching, climbing, cautions, and dangers: Deathclaws on the prowl in plain, too close view, cautionary warnings, followed by the adrenaline burst of - ‘DANGER’ and a scramble to find a hiding place or an otherwise secure perch.
But there was - to Tuco’s amazed satisfaction – a Deathclaw inhabited box canyon, offering both a safe perch and the opportunity to unleash dynamite revenge, to ease his aching back and stealth scraped kneecaps. In fact, there were two full-sized adults tucked in there and jostling each other to get within claw reach of him. And both within easy ‘can’t miss throwing distance'.
As he rounded the northwestern foot of 'Black Mountain' Tuco deployed his binoculars and scanned northward towards 'New Vegas'. From his vantage point he had two routes to choose from: up the old US 15 highway, (50% probability) or up the old Nevada 93/95 highway, (50% probability). Both led to the same destination but the possibilities and dangers along each could be very different. Again, the decision to be made by Lady Luck in Chapter 5.
Thanks for reading and stay tuned Cowboys-n-Gals, for another six gun and gun smoke posting on this Spaghetti West forum!
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*Poetry paraphrased from the coyote kiva poetry from the 'Shiprock Navajo Nation'.
*Poetry paraphrased from the coyote kiva poetry from the 'Shiprock Navajo Nation'.
CHAPTER 5
New Vegas or Bust:
(THE CORPSE IN THE CARAVAN)
The scourge laid on old memories now
There’s one that cannot break
This curse of foes from long ago
Now has made a grave mistake*
New Vegas or Bust:
(THE CORPSE IN THE CARAVAN)
The scourge laid on old memories now
There’s one that cannot break
This curse of foes from long ago
Now has made a grave mistake*
TUCO’S STORY CONTINUES:
The combination of fatigue and the euphoric glow of victory at the base of Black Mountain create a conflict of interest in Tuco’s decision making. With the 'Lucky 38' tower being directly north, the ‘FATIGUE’ choice would be the old US 15 to the northwest - it being the closer but empty, and the old Nevada 93/95 to the northeast being the ‘EUPHORIC’ choice – further away but crowded with buildings and structures.
No coyote passes up on an easy opportunity and the old Nevada 93/95 is loaded with opportunities for the former 'Courier Six' – some potentially easy and some perhaps better left unexplored.
Traveling cross-country northeast, to the old 93/95. Tuco spots a familiar roadside billboard and the 'Grub N’ Gulp' rest stop, where a discussion with the proprietor adds the 'Gun Runners' and 'Medical Clinic' locations to his map.
Prowling northward past the 'Grub ‘N Gulp', along the crumbling asphalt remains of the old 93/95 and the interesting attractions on the verge, Tuco comes to a sudden stop in a jumble of weeds and rubble, blocked by a shallow ravine. There’s a crudely constructed bridge to across and past that … bodies and ash piles that once were bodies and dead brahmin that mark a slaughtered caravan.
Wait! The attackers … not dumb … worse … gullible. The lion logo on their black combat armor shouts that THE 'VAN GRAFF’s' WERE HERE! Or maybe a 'FRAME UP' by some other gang. The bodies and evidence were left here intentionally and may the gods help anyone who tries to do anything about it!
Probably the 'Van Graffs'. Oh yeah, I remember the day I decided to migrate east. That’s when 'Tiaret Van Graff' and her brood of crime and killers, took over 'The Den'! But maybe there is some payback after all. Lots of expensive weaponry and armor laying around. Who’s to say where it went?
Need to be careful where I sell it though. The Mojave branch of the 'Van Graffs', might not take kindly to their billboards being defaced. Still … old 'Fitz' back at the 'Grub ‘N Gulp' says The 'Gun Runners' are here. Both 'The Gun Runners' and The 'Crimson Caravan' likely have scars from the 'Van Graff’s' in California. Not likely they’d share any info on the seller.
OTHER PREDATORS ARRIVE – crows, young golden gecko hunters, and most likely soon to arrive, adult members of the gecko pack. Tuco shoots the first few and then in the pause that follows the last shotgun blast, ducks into the battlefield, grabs the loot and rapidly heads northward towards the ruins surrounding 'New Vegas'.
Here, amid the urban desolation of what had once been the 'Las Vegas' suburbs Tuco locates the 'Gun Runners' and the 'Medical Clinic'. He finds himself almost at a loss by the lack of meaningful landmarks amid the forest of shattered buildings, broken brick and concrete and the occasional lurking Fiend. He only relaxes when the caravan business with the 'Van Graff' merchandise is done with the Vendor-tron at the 'Gun Runner' kiosk and he gets a medical ‘tune up’ of the various cuts and bruises accumulated since his last visit to 'Doc Mitchell'.
In a curiously ironic way the 'Van Graff' violence has provided the monetary means for Tuco to add significantly to his combat capability: lever action shotgun, ripper, and light weight combat helmet. In addition, he’s begun building a stockpile of 40mm grenades in the trashcan next to the kiosk – to save carry weight and yet retain the lure of a future big game safari in the Mojave wastelands.
His travels have also discovered the 'Freeside East Gate', 'Mick and Ralph’s' mercantile and a most useful informant – a destitute ghoul named 'Rotface' who is the eyes and ears of poverty in 'Freeside' and who for the price of a few caps is a treasure trove of useful tidbits for the hungry coyote.
There’s much to learn and discover coming up in Chapter 6. Perhaps an entry onto 'The Strip' and the 'Lucky 38 Casino' … at this point only Lady Luck knows the itinerary. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for another six gun and gun smoke posting on this Spaghetti West forum!
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*Poetry paraphrased from “Revenge” by 'Kim Hooten' @ Poem Hunter Site.
*Poetry paraphrased from “Revenge” by 'Kim Hooten' @ Poem Hunter Site.
CHAPTER 6
'Old Roads and Treasure Maps'
(IN SEARCH OF EL DORADO)
No longer hunt the treasure trove
No more to ride the ancient road
In Armageddon’s shadow
A Casino number thirty eight
To twist and turn the hinge of fate*
'Old Roads and Treasure Maps'
(IN SEARCH OF EL DORADO)
No longer hunt the treasure trove
No more to ride the ancient road
In Armageddon’s shadow
A Casino number thirty eight
To twist and turn the hinge of fate*
TUCO’S JOURNEY SO FAR:
In the first 5 chapters, Tuco has reached and entered the 'Freeside East Gate', but his decision at the town of 'Searchlight' to quit chasing the man in the ‘Daisy Suit’, and head around the base of Black Mountain to Highway 93/95 and 'New Vegas', has left much of the southern portion of the Mojave wasteland unexplored.
A chance encounter in the bar at the 'Mojave Outpost', with 'Rose of Sharon Cassidy' (Cass), has recalled his young days of hard luck survival in the mean streets of 'The Den' and his landlady and surrogate parent, 'Granny Grudge' … who stood up for him when the 'Van Graff' syndicate moved in using ‘her boys’ as a pretext. Later, on the highway, his discovery of a caravan apparently slaughtered by these same 'Van Graff’s' has hardened these memories.
In 'Freeside', after hearing from 'Rotface', that the 'Van Graff’s' have a lair at the 'Silver Rush', Tuco hears the siren call of unrequited vengeance. But there’s another memory from those days … words of warning from his 'Granny Grudge' about the ‘Siren’s Song’ and how some things are better left forgotten even if not forgiven. Perhaps it would be better to forget the lures of profit and/or revenge - and just leave 'New Vegas', the 'Van Graff’s' and The 'Daisy Suit' to their own fates.
But there’s another voice that ignites a fire in the belly, that’s not so easily quenched. And then another voice, this time from 'Old Ben' at the barricaded entrance to 'The Strip', who breaks character and says …
“You look like a man on a mission in that leather armor and combat helmet. You will stand out on the Strip like an eight ball on a pool table full of cues. The tourists, families and securitrons will take notice! So, if you ARE on a mission, take some advice from an old survivor and get yourself some camouflage".
THE QUESTION IS WHAT DOES A COYOTE DO?!!
He asks 'Old Ben' what he knows about the 'Daisy Suit'.
'Old Ben' tells Tuco of a tribal chieftain turned Chairman named 'Benny', a conflict in the 'Tops Casino', a suspicious death, the 'Great Khans' and a rumor of treasure somewhere along the 'Old Roads' southwest of the lights of Vegas.
Tuco’s imagination fills in the picture of 'Benny', the 'Daisy Suit', and a trip along the 'Old Roads' on a treasure hunt leading to his shallow grave in the cemetery above 'Goodsprings'.*
And so, Tuco is on the road again … looking for the “WHAT” of a 'Platinum Poker Chip' and the “WHY” of his execution. He travels West, away from the lights cast by Vegas, to find the 'Old Roads' and finds: A Map ... scratched in the dirt verge of old Nevada Highway 160 where a deathclaw claw indicates 'Quarry Junction' and a tin can is 'Goodsprings' …
In the hills northwest of 'Goodsprings', there’s a trail guarded by … a ghost town of 'Viper Gangers'. A Lonely Grave ... containing a warrior’s suit of 'Great Khan' armor, a 'Unique Combat Knife', and a lingering hint of post traumatic memories of fire, bloodshed and an abandoned 'Great Khan' town on the shores of 'Lake Mead'.
Thus ends Chapter 6 with the emergence of a new plot arc, and perhaps some hidden linkage between a cowboy gunfighter and a potentially 'Enchanted Suit of Armor' and a 'Unique Weapon'. This spaghetti western is starting to take on a life of its own and even the author is waiting in suspense to learn how it unwinds in Chapter 7. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for another six gun and gun smoke posting on this Spaghetti West forum!
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NOTE:
*The credit for this plot link goes to 'Chris Avellone' for the story that’s told in its entirety in his graphic novel ‘All Roads’. If you are a fan of 'Fallout New Vegas' and can afford it you should get a copy. The artwork is wonderful and the part about the murder of 'The Singer' would make a great cut scene for an NPC like old 'Ben' or 'Beatrix Russell' to tell.
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*Poetry paraphrased from “El Dorado” by 'Edgar Allan Poe'.
CHAPTER 7
The "Mongol Blade" of Bitter Springs"
(Bullet Ride to Boot Hill)
I’ll see you in hell in a fiery glow
I’ll let my gun begin the show
I’ll slay your compadres one by one
Until you are the only one
For all the pain you put me through
And to that grave you sent me to
With these memories I will burn
One day it will be your turn*
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The "Mongol Blade" of Bitter Springs"
(Bullet Ride to Boot Hill)
I’ll see you in hell in a fiery glow
I’ll let my gun begin the show
I’ll slay your compadres one by one
Until you are the only one
For all the pain you put me through
And to that grave you sent me to
With these memories I will burn
One day it will be your turn*
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THE STORY CONTINUES:
Tuco has traveled southwest along the 'Old Roads' on a treasure hunt with many miss-steps and many roads. His search ends at shallow grave above a tribal village, where the only living inhabitants are the Cazadors. There’s supposed to be a treasure somewhere and – unless the moldering grave goods he’s ripped from the skeleton of a huge khan warrior, have a monetary value beyond the 'Combat Blade' – the treasure must be stashed somewhere in the village below.
The heights above the village, provide a safe perch for sniping the Cazadors with his cowboy repeater, and with the final kill shot he drops down to investigate. A search of the village yields a minor trove of chems and battlefield debris but, alas no treasure fitting Tuco’s imagination.
Either Tuco has missed something, or the vision of a treasure hunt along the 'Old Roads' inspired by 'Old Ben' at the gates of 'The Strip' was wrong. He slaps his forehead and groans ... and Lady Luck smirks and rolls the dice: If there’s a treasure, then it has to be either in the last site he passed by but didn’t explore – 'Bonnie Springs' (20% probability), somewhere between 'Goodsprings' Cemetery, (where he was shot by 'Benny') and 'Primm' where he first got the package from 'Johnson Nash' (80% probability).
The Lady rolls the dice, and with his decision made, Tuco leaves the village and travels first to 'Chet’s Store', in 'Goodsprings' and the stash hidden behind it, and then north again to the village and the trail leading to 'Bonnie Springs'. There he finds only another stiff gunfight against Viper Gunslingers, a Trail Carbine that he lacks the skill to use properly, and a few of 'Malcom Holmes’ 'blue star bottle caps'.
The Lady picks up the dice again as Tuco ponders his next move. Go north and follow 'Cass’s' advice and see 'The Crimson Caravan' (33% probability), ignore 'Old Ben' and go to the 'Lucky 38 casino' and 'Mr. House' (15%), or ignore 'Old Ben' and confront 'Benny' at the 'Tops Casino' (30%), clean up the open quests at 'Goodsprings' and 'Primm' and clear the area between them (22%).
The probabilities roll into the future and come up with the number 17 – Tuco packs his carbine, bottle caps and other plunder into his inventory and heads north to 'The Crimson Caravan'.
A pack of Fire Gecko’s, provide the first of two incidents of (Post Bitter Springs Traumatic Flashbacks) and The ('Mongol Blade') provides a blood splattered response to gecko flames.
Leaving Old Nevada Highway 160, Tuco, encounters the urban destruction of outer Las Vegas and incessant firefights with marauding 'Fiends', that ends with a head-on encounter with 'Cook-Cook', his Flamer and another dose of ('Bitter Springs') Trauma. Finally, after 'Cook-Cook’s bloody demise, Tuco, crosses the old US Highway 15 and reaches the relative safety and security of the 'Gun Runners' kiosk. It will be a short jump from there to the 'Crimson Caravan', once he’s unloaded the accumulated plunder in his inventory.
Thus ends Chapter 7. In Chapter 8, he will meet the 'Crimson Caravan' boss lady, 'Alice McLafferty'. She, has an apparently simple delivery errand for Tuco at 'Camp McCarran' but somehow I think Lady Luck is going to interfere and ('Chance’s Knife') may not be too happy about Tuco’s dealing with the NCR.
Keep your revolvers oiled and stay tuned for another six gun and gun-smoke posting on this Spaghetti West forum! Thanks for reading.
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Poetry paraphrased from “Burn Your Exes” by 'Jamesa Love', @ Poetry Soup Site.
Poetry paraphrased from “Burn Your Exes” by 'Jamesa Love', @ Poetry Soup Site.
CHAPTER 8
'Epitaph for a Flower Girl':
But you with your fiendish steps
Hath a bounty on your head
And shall slip away from the land
From the Living to the Dead*
'Epitaph for a Flower Girl':
But you with your fiendish steps
Hath a bounty on your head
And shall slip away from the land
From the Living to the Dead*
TUCO's STORY CONTINUES:
Tuco had felt a tremendous physical and emotional adrenaline surge in response to the threats of Fire Gecko flames and 'Cook-Cook’s flame thrower. ('The Mongol') had appeared without a thought in his hand, and THRUST, PARRIED, and SLEW, with an expertise and violence beyond anything in his prior experience. He feels, rather than hears the BLADE’S SONG OF STEEL AND DUTY!
Once I had the lust to kill
To slay the foe and seize his lair
In a Mongol horde through years until
Rust and age no more to care
Now the Khans will drive the dragons out
I’m forged anew with heroes sweat
And now I know beyond a doubt
I’ll slay them yet, I’ll slay them yet*
And so 'Alice McLafferty', has tasked Tuco to deliver an invoice to a 'Doctor Hildern', ‘somewhere’ in 'Camp McCarran', the current duty station of the perpetrators of the ('Bitter Springs') Massacre.
He enters 'Camp McCarran', sees 'Major Dhatri' and … Lady Luck rolls a random number – a FIVE or less, out of ONE HUNDRED will put the major down – payback for the ('Bitter Springs') massacre, – but it’s a NINE and the major lives to pay the bounty on 'Cook-Cook' and issue a contract for the life of a another fiend, a fiend named 'Violet'.
By slaying 'Cook-Cook', Tuco has unwittingly entered 'Major Dhatri’s' lethal game of Three-Card Bounty. 'Cook-Cook' was card number 1, 'Violet' is card number 2, and a fiend named 'Driver Nephi' is card number three. The Major has hinted that if Tuco can collect all three fiend cards (heads), then the base commander, 'Colonel Hsu', will have a grand prize bounty card. Of course there is the little manner of the ('Mongol'), possibly running amok inside the Camp to be considered. So the question that Tuco will have to answer every time he wants to enter 'Camp McCarran' is ‘Do I feel lucky today'?
"THE THREE-CARD BOUNTY" is underway.
Lady Luck rolls again and Tuco sets the 'Crimson Caravan' invoice aside, to search the urban ruins for 'Violet' and her pack of dogs.
Again the hunt through the broken jumble of concrete, brick and girders becomes a sniper’s paradise. One minute when VATS and (Perception) highlight a distant target for Tuco and the Cowboy Repeater. Other times it’s the red hash of (Perception) and the sounds of footsteps and fiendish threats, that set up a face-to-face ambush with the Lever Action 20 gauge with gut eviscerating Magnum shot.
More than a dozen fiends die before Tuco leaves this density of urban destruction and closes in on 'Violet’s compound of chain link, empty trailers and corrugated steel. Already he has had to toss more than 30 lbs of plunder valued at – he gives out an exasperated sigh – more than 300 caps to keep on the hunt.
Suddenly a pack of snarling curs, breaks from the compound in his direction. There are no flames to trigger 'Chance’s Knife' and Tuco switches from the repeater to the shotgun and concentrates on flipping VATS on and off to bring the pack into killing range for hip shots, using the targeting cross hairs to inflict a canine massacre at near point-blank range.
A cry of rage and grief issues from the compound and Tuco sees 'Violet' bringing a rifle to her shoulder. A shot is fired and misses – a .308 bullet Tuco guesses – and he switches back to his trusty repeater and snaps the easily visible 'Violet' into the iron gun sight: Ker-Wap! ... Clik- Klack! ... AHHHHH! ...a shriek and 'Violet' stumbles backwards into a trailer.
Its time for beheading and counting the coup to the ghost of his 'Granny Grudge', back in 'The Den', and with a nod to the lady at the bar of the Mojave Outpost!
Choices – Fast Travel or Hoofing It? The 'Gun Runners' Kiosk for unloading the plunder and the Ammo Bench. The 'Crimson Caravan', for a bed in the Guard Barracks, 'Blake' the merchant, for supplies and the 'Work Bench', and lastly to the gates of 'Camp McCarran' … and … not this chapter Lady Luck! Today your influence ends at the gate to 'Camp McCarran'.
There will be no further invoking the ghosts of ('Bitter Springs') and "The Three Card Bounty" until the next chapter.
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*Title poem paraphrased from the grave digger scene in Act 5 of Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’.
*The Blades Song paraphrased from ‘A Hero´ by 'Robert W. Service'.
CHAPTER 9
A Game of Cabbages and Kings:
The time has come the Lady said
To look at many things
Of the paths to take for destiny
Of animus and kings
And why the sand is dry and hot
And whether Caesar sings*
A Game of Cabbages and Kings:
The time has come the Lady said
To look at many things
Of the paths to take for destiny
Of animus and kings
And why the sand is dry and hot
And whether Caesar sings*
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Tuko's Story Continues:
At the 'El Rey Motel', Lady Luck makes a decision roll for Tuco – to head north and cross the old 15 highway at the 'Sunset Sarsaparilla' factory and sweep south through the ruins, or turn south and cross the old 15 highway at the 'Samson Rock Crushing Plant' and sweep north.
Lady Luck rolls south and Tuco runs into Fiend infiltrators, in an area supposedly under NCR influence and protection, at the 'West Pump Station'. The cowboy repeater speaks in .375 magnum language on the outside and the lever action shotgun barks out in a 20 gauge magnum dialect in the interior.
By the time Tuco reaches the frag mined highway 15 crossing, at the rock crushing facility, the body and plunder count is beginning to reach significant levels.
His entry into 'Fiend' territory, is met almost immediately by an attack by 'Driver Nephi' and four of his ‘soldiers’. It is a firefight that rapidly closes from long to point-blank range. Tuco’s skill along with VATS, (luck), and his trusty cowboy repeater easily prevail. He collects 'Driver Nephi’s' head, his notorious 'golf driver' and the plunder, and decides to wait for daylight before probing into the western-most ruins where he’s spotted more fiends in the distance.
Daylight adds more trophies. He notes that he’s been carrying around several pounds of uncured fire gecko meat that he could turn into gecko steaks if he could find a campfire. Alas his search is fruitless. He gives up his search and eyes the ominous nearby pile of the 'South Vegas Ruins'. He weighs the potential for more plunder against his current load of loot and decides to head back to the 'Gun Runners' kiosk and cash out.
Once again Lady Luck rolls a Fast Travel and Tuco repeats the cycle of fast travel to The 'Gun Runners' Kiosk (profits and ammo bench), 'Mick and Ralphs' (repairs), the 'Crimson Caravan' (beds, work bench, and supplies), and lastly the gates of 'Camp McCarran' where 'Major Dhatri' again passes a roll for the ('MONGOL’S CURSE') and thus lives to pay the bounty for 'Driver Nephi’s' head.
With the 'Driver Nephi' contract closure, the 'Three Card Bounty Quest' ends and Tuco must decide his next course of action: return to the 'South Vegas Ruins' (20%), deliver the 'Crimson Caravan' Invoice to 'Dr. Hildern' (30%), see 'Colonel Hsu' for more bounty work (20%), head north and enter 'The Strip' (15%), or go to 'Freeside' and look for opportunities with 'Rotface' (15%).
Lady Luck ‘rolls’ an 89 and Tuco leaves 'Camp McCarran' for 'Freeside', where 'Rotface' will find himself cast into an unexpected role as an ‘employment counselor’ and ‘headhunter’ for Mojave firms.
With 'Rotface' in his new role, job opportunities are a cap apiece and for a fistful, he has winnowed out the following career opportunities: investigate the 'King' and his visit with his apparently sick robo-dog at the 'Mormon Fort' (10%), hire on as the debt collector for the 'Atomic Wrangler' and become a ‘talent scout’ for their new ‘escort’ service (45%), and lastly follow up on the rumored ‘bad blood’ between the 'King’s' right hand man 'Pacer' and the 'Van Graff’s' (45%).
Lady Luck ‘rolls’ an 83 and Tuco heads over to the 'King’s' - 'School of Impersonation', to learn what 'Pacer' might have on his mind. His thoughts are with his 'Granny Grudge' and a caravan slaughtered along the 95 highway. This might be a fine time to make the 'Van Graff’s' pay some consequences for their deeds.
Once again Lady Luck has steered Tuco on a twisted course of destiny, onto the cusp of a new adventure into the murky world of 'Freeside/Strip/NCR politics'. Chapter 10 may prove to be a frustrating and patience eroding experience for which Tuco’s limited inter-personal skills will be severely challenged.
Don’t be daunted Cowboys n’ Gals. Keep your repeaters ready and knives sharp for the next exciting chapter. It's guaranteed to be a thriller!
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*Paraphrased from “The Walrus and the Carpenter” by 'Lewis Carroll'.
CHAPTER 10
Courier’s Gambit:
Bad Blood, Schemes For Retribution
Dust, dirt and debris
Abate to reveal
Your carrion souls
Rotted to the core.
Bloodless, breathless, buried,
Until something stirred
The warm embrace
Of the pointed shovel
Dragging old sins
From retribution’s slumber.
Rousing to reality,
I am awake
And hungry.
I will reap what is mine.*
Courier’s Gambit:
Bad Blood, Schemes For Retribution
Dust, dirt and debris
Abate to reveal
Your carrion souls
Rotted to the core.
Bloodless, breathless, buried,
Until something stirred
The warm embrace
Of the pointed shovel
Dragging old sins
From retribution’s slumber.
Rousing to reality,
I am awake
And hungry.
I will reap what is mine.*
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More of TUCO'S Story Continues:
Tuco - ponders the gossip tid-bits provided by 'Rotface', from his ‘office’ next to 'Mick and Ralphs' in 'Freeside'. 'PACER! AH-YES' - Bad Blood with the 'Van Graff’s! Thanking you kindly 'Rotface', for the caps well spent!
Such are Tuco’s thoughts, as he treks to the 'King’s School of Impersonation', (leaving the bodies of several 'Freeside', would be thugs and muggers bleeding in the gutters, (good for them, I say)).
There, he promptly runs into the realities of non-combat (Skill Checks) and off-topic subjects. There will be no opening into discussing the ‘nitty gritty’ of ‘bad blood’ issues, with the 'Van Graff’s' - at least not yet. Nonetheless the 'King’s court offers many opportunities worth investigating:
First, there is 'Orris' the bodyguard, stealing market share from the 'King’s lads:
Then there is the competition for turf, with NCR Squatters and some of the 'King’s' people being beaten up!
As if the Squatters were not enough, there is an NCR Military presence in 'Freeside' under disguise as ‘Missionaries’.
NCR provocations culminate in the ambush of 'Pacer' and the death of some of The 'King’s' men at the 'Freeside' Railway Station. The 'King' calls for help and Tuco seizes the opportunity to extort a contract from the uncooperative but under pressure 'Pacer', as a ‘legal’ cover and blame taker for anything unfortunate happening to the 'Van Graff’s'.
After 'Pacer’s' ungracious response to Tuco, the Gunfire Sonata played by the NCR thugs at the station, resumes and Tuco adds a rapid snare drum roll of .375 Magnum gunfire to the music, accentuated by the heavy bass drum beat of his 20 gauge lever action shotgun.
And so the NCR is vanquished and 'Pacer' is saved! The grateful 'King', recognizes a debt to Tuco and promises a 'FAVOR’. But the exploitation of ‘bad blood’ between 'Pacer' and the 'Van Graff’s, is not on the list of the 'King’s' grant-able favors - at least for now.
The whole venture seems to be a waste of time to the disgruntled Tuco. Meanwhile there are other opportunities on 'Rotface’s' list, that are worth exploring: (1)- The further pursuit, of the possibility of getting the 'King’s' favor, for a strike against the 'Van Graff’s via his robo dog, 'Rex' (30%).
(2)- Return to 'Camp McCarran', and delivery of the invoice from the 'Crimson Caravan' (40%).
(3)- Entering The Strip to look for answers regarding 'Benny', 'Mr. House' and the 'Platinum Chip' (30%).
Lady Luck? She’s always on time!* She smiles demurely and ‘rolls’ a 37. In the next chapter, Tuco will look to returning to 'Camp McCarran' to deliver the 'Crimson Caravan' invoice. But will his current reputation with the NCR, result in a hostile reception? Suddenly, the delivery of that invoice and its connection to the 'Crimson Caravan', and from the caravan to the 'Rose of Sharon' at the 'Mojave Outpost' bar, and further to his 'Grandma Grudge' at 'The Den', looms more importantly in his concept of things to be done. Stay tuned!
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*Paraphrased from truly chilling masterpiece of poetry “Exhumed” by 'Brandon Walker'.
*Quote by Benny from 'Chris Avellone’s' ‘All Roads’ FNV Graphic Novel
CHAPTER 11
Dynamite Duel at Zapp’s:
('THE FIEND')
After the soldiers and well-armed leave
And the ‘Sider’s’ all have fled,
The Fiend shall come out of the ruins at eve
To add to the count of the dead.
He’ll murder and scrounge for a ‘fix’ in the dirt
And hunt with no soul thru the night,
So take a good shot at his head or his shirt
And tug his corpse into the light *
Dynamite Duel at Zapp’s:
('THE FIEND')
After the soldiers and well-armed leave
And the ‘Sider’s’ all have fled,
The Fiend shall come out of the ruins at eve
To add to the count of the dead.
He’ll murder and scrounge for a ‘fix’ in the dirt
And hunt with no soul thru the night,
So take a good shot at his head or his shirt
And tug his corpse into the light *
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Tuco's Story Continues:
Despite the 'Freeside' shootout with the NCR, 'Camp McCarran' is quiet when Tuco arrives at the gate and heads for the Terminal building – possibly because its 3am Thursday morning. Neither Major 'Dhatri' nor the '1st Recon Red Berets' are up and about so Lady Luck has no opportunity to roll for the ('MONGOL’S CURSE'). But she does make up for it when Tuco starts opening doors looking for a likely office for 'Dr. Hildern' and instead encounters Colonel 'Hsu'.
Oh how fickle can Tuco’s resolve be! One minute he’s dead set on the delivery of the 'Crimson Caravan' invoice and the next he’s discussing the Colonel’s problems: the Fiends, the Legion, and NCR inefficiencies.
'KA-CHING'
His internal cash register goes into high alert and the discussion turns into the many ways a 'Mojave Express Courier', can deal with the worsening Fiend threat out of the 'South Vegas' ruins in general, and a chieftain in Vault 3 named 'Motor Runner' in particular. There’s also a Legionnaire prisoner, a possible Legion spy, and missing NCR supplies on the menu. But the Colonel’s shopping list of woes fails to mention 'Dr. Hildern' and the 'Crimson Caravan' invoice and so that topic slides from Tuco’s attention.
Lady Luck, sees to it that likely chances are established and the die of destiny cast – and soon Tuco is crossing Highway 15 and headed to the old sarsaparilla factory for more healing elixir, prior to sweeping south into the 'South Vegas' ruins. The target this time is Vault 3: first, find 'Bryce Anders' the Ranger gone missing, second, find and free civilian prisoners, and third, kill 'Motor Runner'.
'EEZEE PEEZEE'! - NOT THIS TIME - THERE ARE MANY EVENTS AND ADVENTURES BETWEEN THE TIME WHEN Tuco LEAVES THE COLONEL AND HIS RETURN 3 DAYS LATER. THIS CHAPTER WILL DEAL WITH THE CAT AND MOUSE HUNT, LEADING TO AN ENCOUNTER WITH ANOTHER FIEND BOSS AND HIS STRONGHOLD AS YET BENEATH THE NCR RADAR. THE ACTUAL DISCOVERY AND ENTRY INTO VAULT 3 WILL BE COVERED IN CHAPTER 12.
Once again the brick and concrete jumble of urban devastation, becomes a battleground. But it’s a battle of almost random encounters, centered on the campfires and shelters of small groups of Fiends. Had there been any sort of organization and central leadership Tuco, could never have penetrated alone, to reach the heavily mined and trapped 'Zapp’s Neon Sign' building, a fortress in the center of the 'South Vegas Ruins'.
After narrowly evading several booby traps left by the management in 'Zapp’s' front office, Tuco hears the sounds of Fiendish voices and scurrying feet coming up the stairwell from the factory floor. Now’s a great time to use the dynamite he’s been lugging around! He opens the game with a dynamite fastball. The first explosion is quickly followed by several more as the stairwell erupts into a cacophony of screams and the splattering of blood and body parts.
With the stairwell now dynamite clean and vermin free, Tuco attempts to enter the factory floor. He immediately encounters a fusillade of rifle fire from a Fiend hidden by the shadows on the steel stairway leading to the foreman’s office. The Fiend is 'Duke', an armored champion of evil karma and intent even among-st the Fiend leadership. He has fortified himself atop killing zones on the steel stepped landings leading upwards. Each landing is defended by the deadly combination of frag mines and fire extinguishers.
But the stair landing traps can be exploded from below as well as above, and Tuco’s trusty Cowboy Repeater works a deadly and persistent combo of .375 Magnum lead to keep 'Duke’s' head down and clear the way to a final reckoning and the loot stored in the foreman’s office.
The fighting thus far has been profitable and long, too long! His body is beginning to cash in the checks he has written on it, since he left 'Camp McCarran' on this mission: FATIGUE, FOOD and WATER! It’s high time for FAST TRAVEL to The 'Grub N’ Gulp', where one stop can fill all his body’s needs before tending to other matters. But Lady Luck says “NO! - It’s the LONG WALK for you Mister 'Mojave Express Courier'!” And so this chapter ends as Tuco collects and winnows his plunder, before departing the 'South Vegas Ruins' on his trek eastwards to the 'Grub N’ Gulp'.
But the job is not yet done! Tuco has yet to locate Vault 3 and complete any of his ‘contracted’ objectives. Stay for our next exciting spaghetti western chapter.
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*Paraphrased from the poem ‘The Hyaenas’ by 'Rudyard Kipling'.
CHAPTER 12
'The Knifefight at Old Vault 3'
(Motor Runner’s Demise)
That the vault dwellers died and why they died
Troubles the Fiend not a whit
He’ll shoot his chems and conscience hide
Til’ the Huntsman’s weapons hit
For a knife may stab, and a bullet may sting
And justice will finally stand
But the dead sinner, the drug addled Fiend
Shall never again lift a hand*
'The Knifefight at Old Vault 3'
(Motor Runner’s Demise)
That the vault dwellers died and why they died
Troubles the Fiend not a whit
He’ll shoot his chems and conscience hide
Til’ the Huntsman’s weapons hit
For a knife may stab, and a bullet may sting
And justice will finally stand
But the dead sinner, the drug addled Fiend
Shall never again lift a hand*
THE STORY SO FAR:
Tuco leaves the 'Zapp’s Neon Sign' Building, grumbling about the long walk to the 'Grub N’ Gulp'. But his trials and tribulations are not yet over. First, there’s a fire extinguisher/frag mine trap at his crossing point of the old I 15 highway. Next, his assumption that the NCR military at 'Camp McCarran', maintained control of the eastern portions of 'Outer Vegas' turf, is severely challenged when he encounters the cremated remains of an NCR trooper and a ‘raiding party’ of six Fiends at an abandoned warehouse near the 'Allied Technologies' building.
TRAPS, ASHES, FIENDS, - Oh MY! The heavy hits just keep on coming!
He stumbles on the remains of another slaughtered caravan - 'Cassidy Caravans' - and pictures the belligerent shotgun toting cowgirl at the 'Mojave Outpost' bar.
Caravans and Memories:
A collision of memories – 'Granny Grudge' and 'Cassidy Cowgirl' ('Cass'). Both alike? - NAW. But then both were Couriers in a way, - conveyors of an item or message from one party to another. A small boy conveying messages and ‘stuff’ across 'The Den' for his Granny, the Cowgirl with a caravan, and some poor sap caravaneer holed up in a 'Goodsprings' gas station.
!@#$%*(
Lady Luck sees an opportunity to mess with destiny! Perhaps when he’s done with his contracts at 'Camp McCarran' and thinking of a next move.
The 'Grub N’ Gulp' comes into view and the 4-R logistics cycle begins, ("Rest, Recuperate, Repair and Refit"). When the cycle ends, Tuco, has accumulated a healthy stash in the garbage can next to the 'Gun Runners' kiosk. In addition to the Trail Carbine, it now includes a badly damaged suit of Recon Armor. He also has enough caps left to drop by 'Doctor Usanagi’s' for an (Agility Implant).
This time, the trip back to the 'South Vegas Ruins' is uneventful. All is relatively quiet until he spots the macabre trademarks of the Fiends hanging by meat hooks from the ceiling of a large ruined building. He has found the entry way to Vault 3.
Now the action begins in earnest. Every time he approaches the bottom of the entry ramp to activate the Vault 3 doorway mechanism, an attacking Fiend appears behind him. There’s no cure for these interruptions until an exasperated Tuco takes his shotgun and sweeps the surrounding area.
Then, at last, he activates the opening mechanism, steps inside and receives a fusillade of some of the most downright vulgar and obscene language he’s ever heard coming from a young lady Fiend standing on guard just inside.
His patience and ('Speech skills') are clearly not up to the exchange and the dialog quickly devolves into gunfire, dynamite and a flood of Fiend reinforcements, that either leaves him bloody and dead on the vault entry floor or bloody and near death outside.
!@#$%^ * - thank goodness for the Reload function!
He needs a new strategy, and finds one with his lone 'Stealth Boy' and his ('Sneak') skill. These get him by the five heavily armed entry guards and into the bowels of Vault 3. It is only then, after his 'Stealth Boy' expires and he’s accumulated a significant number of kills and wounds that he realizes that he’s trapped himself inside, cut off from any resources, save those he can kill or steal. ('Sneak') is his best weapon and he had stupidly left the recon armor back at the 'Gun Runners' Kiosk.
Oh what to do? What to do?
He sets up a base in the vault cafeteria, (lots of stim packs, food and water) and steals a strategy used by an ancient American Boxer - “Float like a butterfly! Sting like a bee!”**:, ('sneak') through the hallways, spot a Fiend or group of Fiends, snipe with his rifle, hide behind a corner while the Fiends spread out and search, and then ambush with knife or shotgun as they round the corner.
The system worked well, except for one skirmish when a group of Fiends rounded the corner simultaneously. There was no time for a shotgun reload and it was close-in ‘wet work’ with ('Chance’s Knife'), followed by a retreat up-level to the Cafeteria, toting a (Power Fist) trophy along with his wounds and other plunder.
('Lock Picking') proved to be another impediment with any door or lock beyond Easy, being impenetrable. Thus the locks on the Maintenance Level and a large barred cell housing civilian prisoners appeared to be major blocks preventing contract completion.
The missing Ranger, 'Anders', proved to be uncooperative, even though injured and incapable of performing his mission to assassinate 'Motor Runner'. The civilian prisoners however, showed considerably more spirit than the sulking Ranger, and provided the clue to a solution lurking in the lower dormitories of the Living Quarters.
The dormitory plunder, included a set of keys stripped off of the corpse of a Fiend underboss, lots of chems and chem overdose victims, weapons, armor and a potentially useful set of prewar civilian clothing, that might be of future use as a disguise on 'The Strip'.
Now it was time to free the civilian captives and penetrate the Maintenance Wing to pay his respects to 'Motor Runner'.
Aside from the by now typical ‘Float and Sting’ approach to combat – at which Tuco’s ‘On The Job Training’ was making him quite the expert - the final chapter was unremarkable, except for the approach to 'Motor Runner', and a brief discussion between the two, concerning the ransom price for 'Motor Runner’s' life. As with Tuco’s earlier profit for hire proposal to 'Pacer', at the 'Freeside' Railroad Station, this discussion did not end well and concluded with the spilling of more blood: ('Chance’s Knife') versus 'Motor Runner’s' Chainsaw.
With 'Motor Runner' dead, and Vault 3 effectively empty all that remains is to haul out, the remaining plunder and return to 'Camp McCarran' to collect a reward from 'Colonel Hsu'. So where does the ‘hero’ of the South Vegas Ruins and Vault 3 go next?
There are opportunities ‘on the table’, from two NPC’s: the charismatic Lawful Good 'Freeside' 'King', and the Neutral Good 'Colonel Hsu' at 'Camp McCarran'. Unfortunately many of these opportunities involve non-combative skills, at which he has little ability and inclination.
Then there’s the quest he dropped after talking with 'Old Ben', at the gates to 'The Strip'. Go inside and continue tracking (‘Daisy Suit Benny’), the so called 'Mister House', and the mysterious 'Platinum Poker Chip'.
He could also easily reclaim his ‘Courier’, job title and finally deliver 'Alice McLafferty’s' invoice to 'Dr. Hildern' at 'Camp McCarran'.
And lastly, he could give in to a rare charitable impulse inspired by the sights of the slaughtered caravans and his childhood memories of fear and terror in 'The Den', at the hands of the 'Van Graff’s. He could help a spirit, kindred to those days and travel south to help the caravaneer hiding out from the 'Powder Gangers' in 'Goodsprings'.
Make sure your guns and combat knives are clean and ready for action in our next exciting spaghetti western chapter when Lady Luck steps in.
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*Poetry paraphrased from ‘The Hyaenas’ by 'Rudyard Kipling'.
**The phrase used by 'Muhammad Ali', nee 'Casius Clay' - when he used his poetic wit to amuse the press and win his first installment of the World Heavy Weight Boxing Championship (as a point of interest the odds against him were fantastic and this writer – then a hospital orderly working to pay for his college education – won $20 on a $1 bet).
CHAPTER 13
The Legend of Vault 22
(Man Eaters)
When the war was done in the desert sun
And the vaults were legends of old;
The desert trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The glow and the lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was Vault Twenty Two and the horrors that grew
Green killers that never should be *
The Legend of Vault 22
(Man Eaters)
When the war was done in the desert sun
And the vaults were legends of old;
The desert trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The glow and the lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was Vault Twenty Two and the horrors that grew
Green killers that never should be *
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THE STORY SO FAR:
After his return from Vault 3, Tuco has upgraded his rifle to the Trail Carbine. Despite this, he still had enough cash from his 4-R logistics cycle, to purchase his third implant from 'Dr. Usanagi', giving him ('Luck') to add to ('Agility') and ('Perception') skills.
('Luck') proved to be useful choice. When Tuco arrived at 'Camp McCarran', he passed close to 'Major Dhatri'. The proximity of the former NCR Captain at the ('Bitter Springs Massacre') to the ('Mongol Blade') stirred the possibility of post traumatic vengeance in its deadly serrated blade. But Lady Luck smiled this time; ('The Blade’s') awareness faded, and the Major lived to face another day.
Lady Luck, would play a major factor again after Tuco collected the bounty on 'Motor Runner' and surveyed his immediate opportunities. 'She' rolled the dice and winnowed his choices down to his ‘Courier’s’ obligation to 'Alice McLafferty' and the delivery of the 'Crimson Caravan' invoice to 'Dr. Hildern'.
But the invoice delivery was not what 'Dr. Hildern' had in mind. Soon, the Invoice delivery had been set aside, by the promise of easy cash inspired by the doctor’s visions of a water free agricultural bounty in the Mojave Desert. The conflict, between the description of a quick and easy ('PIP Boy') data down load, of ancient research data and a lab assistant’s warning about vanishing mercs, is drowned by the clatter of hundreds of bottle caps falling into Tuco’s imaginary pockets.
Once again, Tuco is crossing the highway 15 boundary, this time in search of the legendary 'Vault 22' and its plants that flourish without water or sunlight. Between the highway and the western foothills, lie the ruins of suburbia and another New Vegas community called 'Westside'. Once again, Tuco learns that rumors of the Fiend’s demise, are vastly over rated. The suburban housing ruins are a rich source of prewar mailbox treasures, as well as an exploding mailbox, set to warn yet another gang of Fiends of an intruder onto their turf.
Suddenly, Tuco finds himself surrounded by Fiends and in an apparently hopeless position. The Fiends prepare to launch a simultaneous attack by melee, energy weapons, and gunfire. Tuco responds by adopting the 'Coyote Gambit'. When faced with a fight you cannot possibly win, identify a potential haven and RUN FOR IT!
The race begins with Tuco, swearing to himself for not carrying a dose of 'Turbo', grabbing Doctor Bags and gulping healing chems and plants while zig-zagging towards 'Westside' and its militia. He sails past the outer barricades followed closely by two of the Fiends.
Now the combat develops but this time it’s between the Fiends and the 'Westside Militia' at a crossing called the 'Thorn'!
The shift in targets, from Tuco, to the militia, creates a respite. Now is the time to turn the tables, and Tuco unlimbers his Trail Carbine and goes back through the barricades in ('Sneak Mode') to stalk and eliminate his pursuers.
The baritone retort of Tuco’s .44 Magnum trail carbine guarantees that results are not long in coming.
Soon, Tuco, is once again borderline overloaded with weaponry, chems and armor. He returns to 'Westside' and visits 'Klamath Bob’s Liquor Store' and 'Miguel’s Pawnshop' for a brief 4-R cycle. Before leaving, he spends a few minutes pondering an entry into the 'Thorn', or a manhole to the 'North Sewers', but decides against either and proceeds on his way to the western foothills.
He finds the surface entrance to 'Vault 22', covered with spreading jungle and fungoid foliage, a sign, warning of plants that kill, and a guardian pack of Giant Mantises. His Trail Carbine, and Lever Action Shotgun prove effective, but his ammunition supply may not be sufficient to accommodate the number of mantises and ‘killer plants’, that might be lurking inside. He switches to ('The Mongol Blade'), which proves to be just as murderously effective as its gun powder brethren against insectoid flesh and armor.
Inside, he finds a rough camp and a computer log left by a merc named 'Keely', (the subject of a missing person request by 'Hildern’s' lab assistant). Both 'Hildern' and 'Keely' have surmised that the vault’s research data are probably housed in a mainframe computer, somewhere deep in the bowels of the vault. It is here that Tuco’s substantial ('Repair Skills'), pay big dividends, by enabling him to repair the vault’s elevator and bypass much of the maze of vegetation choked stairways and passageways. With the repairs complete he proceeds directly to the lowest level, which had ironically but appropriately been labeled, PEST CONTROL!
OH NO! Giant Mantises, Spore Zombies and Giant Venus Fly Traps!
It is 'THEY' that rule the Vault and provide the 'PEST CONTROL' on intruding human agents. There’s nothing for it, but Level by Level and Cavern by Cavern insect and plant destroying exploration: 'BLADE', BULLET and 3.0 Magnum SHOT, until the mainframe access data is found and the research data down loaded! Also discovered, is a broken concrete wall into a sealed room, with a locker containing a number of HEPA air conditioning filters.
The missing merc, 'Keely' is found - an ancient female ghoul. A supercilious, blackmailing, opinionated, iron willed SHE-GARGOYLE! She’s embarked on a single minded crusade, to save the NCR from a spore inflicted slavery! She has also sealed the exit and issued an edict that Tuco, is not leaving until he performs her near suicidal scheme to eliminate the ‘SPORES’, by igniting an explosive gas emanating from an air conditioning vent in the 'PEST CONTROL' level.
And so, Lady Luck is called upon to toy with the issue of 'Keely’s' ultimatum. Does Tuco have a choice? What if he “OFF’s” the old biddy? What about theft? What happens if he makes an audible ‘bang’ with a stick of dynamite and claims he did the job? Not even Lady Luck is confident of the choices here. If Tuco makes a wrong decision or move, there might be no reloading! It’s far too soon to lose Tuco either because he’s entombed forever in 'Vault 22' or transmogrified into bits of cordite seared flesh.
He decides to take his chances with his one remaining stick of long fused dynamite, and heads to the elevator for his descent into 'PEST CONTROL' and his conscripted role as ‘The Spore Exterminator’. A wise decision with which even Lady Luck concurred.
The exercise appeared to be simplicity itself – the plants, zombies and bugs had already been disposed of, the mainframe download terminal is sited in a room outside of the likely blast radius – what could go wrong?
Stay tuned Cowboys N’ Cowgirls for the next chapter to see if Tuco can turn a lonely stick of long fused dynamite, into a solution to this apparent clash of wills between a coyote’s craft and an old ghoul’s granite will.
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*Poetry paraphrased from ‘The Cremation of Sam McGee’ by 'Robert W. Service'.
CHAPTER 14
The Coyote and the Ghoul:
(The Foiling of Old Keely)
The Coyote and the Ghoul:
(The Foiling of Old Keely)
Now the Ghoul Keely, was from Tennessee, where the bombs and the war winds rose
Why she left her home, in the South to roam, ‘out West, God only knows
She was wrinkled and old, but the land of gold, seemed to hold her like a spell
Though she’d often say, in her homey way, that she’d “sooner live in hell”
And in the vault, she came to a halt, ‘neath the ground where the killer plants grow
And the coyote led, and the plants overhead, left many a withered foe
He turned to her, and said for sure, “I’ll cash in on this trip, I guess.”
“But you can’t leave”, she had an ace up her sleeve, to force him to do her request.
Now 'Keely’s' need, might be a thing to heed, if in cash it would not fail
But her manner was cold, and he wouldn’t fold, tho’ the vault had become their jail
He wouldn’t be bound, and a loop hole he found, a weakness she couldn’t see
The coyote left, with an artful theft, and the vault held only Keely. *
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THE STORY SO FAR:
Tuco, has been out maneuvered by the implacable iron ghoul 'Keely'. How do you threaten someone who’s already a walking 200 year old corpse, when she’s conscripted you against your will, into a suicidal scheme to save humanity from death by fungal spores. She’s put 'Vault 22' into a ‘lock down’ condition and won’t relent until he’s located and destroyed the ‘spores’, by exploding her home brew ‘flammable gas’ emanating from the air conditioning vents down in the 'PEST CONTROL' level.
He approaches the vents and deploys his last stick of long fused dynamite.
BUT WAIT! The ‘OLD GIRL’ may have many points of Intelligence on him, but he’s still the ('WILEY COYOTE') and NOBODY out WILES a coyote. No SIREE! She may think she’s in control but By-Jing! – she ain’t no Pre-War looneytoon Road Runner!
Tuco gingerly stuffs the dynamite back in his inventory and takes the elevator back to the second level. There’s going to be a ('SNEAK') versus ('SCIENCE') skill contest to see which one ends up wearing the Smarty Pants.
The first point goes to 'Keely' - her computer is locked.
Ah-Ha! The ‘OLD GIRL’ has something to hide. Well! Well! Well! - time for a recce of her pants pockets.
The next point goes to Tuco as he performs a deft ('Pick Pocket') and extracts her password.
And its Point three and GAME OVER! Tuco, punches in the password at the computer keyboard and heads to the entrance where -
HAH! 'Keely', you can sit there in your ‘Command Center’ waiting for the explosion while your flammable gas fills the Vault. Maybe you will strike a spark and set the whole Vault off around you! Or maybe you’ll get smart and do your dirty work yourself. You can pay yourself the caps you promised me!
He pauses briefly outside and considers whether to stop off at 'Westside' or head directly to 'Camp McCarran'. Lady Luck rolls McCarran, and he arrives there at 9pm with 'Major Dhatri' nowhere in sight. The OSI lab is apparently in a different time zone then the rest of the camp. 'Dr. Hildern' and his assistant are both there. The dialogs are frosty for all parties with [font
color="191ae6"]Tuco being angry about 'Hildern’s' hiding the lethal nature of the Vault, the lab assistant angry about 'Keely', and 'Hildern' upset that Tuco wanted more than the agreed upon bottle caps.
Because of his earlier stop at 'Westside', Tuco’s recovery cycle was brief: a stop-over at the 'Gun Runners' kiosk, where he added a scope for his Trail Carbine, the work bench at 'Mick and Ralphs', and lastly waiting at the 'Crimson Caravan' for 'Alice McLafferty' to arrive to conclude the business of the Invoice delivery.
When 'Alice McLafferty' offers additional jobs, Lady Luck steps in to review and select from the current list of opportunities: first, there’s three jobs for 'Alice McLafferty' (50%), follow-up on the 'Platinum Poker Chip' on 'The Strip' (20%); more work at 'McCarran' from 'Colonel Hsu' (5%), and last, follow up of 'Rotface’s' rumors about the 'King' and 'Rexie' (15%), and openings at 'The Atomic Wrangler' (10%).
Lady Luck rolled her dice and 'Alice McLafferty' came up the winner. But which one of her three jobs: a company employee problem, negotiations with 'Cass'idy Caravans, or industrial espionage at the 'Gun Runners'?
This last decision was strictly a ‘no contest’ – Tuco immediately thought of the cowgirl (Cass), at the 'Mojave Outpost' and decided to head south. First to the 'Grub N’ Gulp' to bring his stats up for the journey and then west to highway 15, skirting the deathclaw infestation at 'Quarry Junction', and south towards 'Sloan', 'Primm' and the 'Mojave Outpost'.
And so the 'Coyote' rode the Mojave through the ruined office parks and other buildings of 'Southern Vegas' and into the foothills of 'Black Mountain'. There, in the foothills, his 'PIP Boy' warning went Red for CAUTION and Tuco saw the distinct bipedal forms of deathclaw predators stalking the highway and railroad tracks below. Three times before he reached 'Sloan' the 'PIP Boy' warning began blinking a panic DANGER and he hugged the closest cover and became as still as stone, until certain death moved on and the warning cleared.
It was night and 'Sloan' was quiet. The foreman and his quarrymen had apparently gone to bed. The 'Coyote' slipped by along the rail roadbed, ignoring the occasional skulking ‘Powder Ganger’ convict escapee, from the nearby wreckage of the NCR ‘Correctional’ facility. They were just large, two legged rats dressed in blue prison uniforms and nothing more.
He came to the remains of the slaughtered and pillaged 'Crimson Caravan', that must have belonged to the caravaneer hiding out from the 'Powder Gangers' in an abandoned gas station in 'Goodsprings'. He felt a brief pang of empathy for the caravaneers, as for a fleeting moment he was a small boy again in 'The Den', conveying messages and ‘stuff’ for his 'Granny Grudge' being accosted by 'Van Graff' bullies. The 'Jean School of Sky Diving' building emerged from the darkness. He’d seen it before from the other direction coming up from 'Primm', but from the north, at night, the ‘Ghosts of Schemings Past’, stirred in the nocturnal desert noises to play back the VOICES from that night, when his attackers had lain in wait for a 'lone Mojave Express Courier' coming up the road.*
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1st Voice,“This COURIER traveling with a CARAVAN? Any BODYGUARDS?”
2nd Voice,“Not a one". Draws less attention to the PACKAGE.”
1st Voice, “So what, this courier’ll just give it to us?”
2nd Voice, “I’d rather our involvement NOT be known. Leaving the victim ALIVE makes that difficult.”
3rd Voice, “I KNOW who you ARE, knew as soon as I saw the SUIT.”
“You got plenty of BOYS for this job, yet HERE you are talking to US.”
“Khans don’t kill for VEGAS caps. Not like THIS.”
3rd Voice, “TELL him McMurphy. It ain’t the Khan WAY.”
4th Voice, “Never said I WOULDN’T pull the Trigger”
2nd Voice, “That works for me.”
The voices slowly fade into the night time Mojave ambiance.
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The courier, the caravaneer … an ambush! 'Benny the Daisy Suit' or escaped prison rats. Makes no !@#$%^'n difference. 'Granny' did for me against the 'Van Graffs' and I’m going to do the same for that caravaneer in the 'Goodsprings' gas station.
!@#$%^'n; right I will!
Tuco leaves the I-15 highway, and turns up Nevada Hwy 160 to 'Goodsprings' and the abandoned Poseidon Gas station, to look for the caravaneer.
There are questions requiring an answer to be addressed in the next chapter. Is the caravaneer still in hiding in the gas station or has he been killed or moved on? If he’s still hiding inside, will the spirit of 'The Den' and 'Granny Grudge' maintain the pangs of brotherhood and empathy now burning in Tuco’s breast? And what about the 'Powder Gangers', do they still bear a grudge against the caravaneer?
Are your trigger fingers itchy? Stay tuned. The next chapter could get very, very ugly.
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*Poetry paraphrased from ‘The Cremation of Sam McGee’ by 'Robert W. Service'.
Note – dialog from 'Chris Avellone’s' graphic novel ‘All Roads’.
CHAPTER 15
'THE CURSE OF THE MONGOL BLADE'
A fiery blaze, and the red berets,
Doth call the 'Mongol’s' rage
Of the Bitter Creek, and the bullets streak,
Slaughter had ruled that day.
Let the owner beware, of the violence there,
When the 'Mongol' begins to engage,
Now save for a Khan, the Blade is no pawn
And Death shall rule the day
Anyone near, shall have much to fear,
Til’ that rage doth fade away
A fiery blaze, and the red berets,
Doth call the 'Mongol’s' rage
Of the Bitter Creek, and the bullets streak,
Slaughter had ruled that day.
Let the owner beware, of the violence there,
When the 'Mongol' begins to engage,
Now save for a Khan, the Blade is no pawn
And Death shall rule the day
Anyone near, shall have much to fear,
Til’ that rage doth fade away
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THE STORY SO FAR:
Tuco finds 'Ringo' ‘at home’, in the gas station and agrees, for a price (empathy doesn’t change everything), to help the desperate caravaneer. However instead of being a steady hand squeezing the trigger, he finds himself in the role of a recruiting agent using his meager ('persuasion') skills and skill enhancing (aids) to create a 'Goodsprings' Militia to stand up against the 'Powder Gangers'.
The gunfight begins with Tuco and the townspeople making a stand at the store fronts, while the 'Powder Gangers' come rolling up highway 160, with a baseball bat swinging Ganger in the lead. Tuco steps out and the two collide amid the swirling gun smoke and snarling shot and bullets.
After the gunfight, 'Chet’s' store is full to bursting with 'Powder Ganger' plunder, Tuco packs up his stash and any equipment he doesn’t want to carry in his inventory, and uses the 'Mojave Express' mailbox to ship everything to 'Primm'. He mentally kicks himself for not activating the express mailbox in 'Freeside', which would make a collection point closer to what he assumes will be his future theater of operations.
Now that hostilities with the 'Powder Gangers' have broken out, he read Lady Luck, has decided to remove the 'Powder Gangers' from highway 15, from 'Sloan' to 'Primm'. Along the way he leveled up to 13, putting his Skill Points into ('Barter') (25), ('Lockpick') (45), and ('Repair') (56).
At 'Primm', when he informed 'Johnson Nash', that Deputy Beagle had been killed during a gunfight in the 'Bison Steve Hotel', (neglecting to say that he was the one who had shot the hapless deputy). The 'Mojave Express' manager, told Tuco, that it was his job to get a new lawman and restore law and order to 'Primm'. This would be a large order since the upper floors of the hotel were fully occupied by an armed band of convicts who had broken with the 'Powder Gangers'.
There would be no gunfire this day in the Bison Steve. It would be a quiet room by room ('Sneak') and Blade rendition, of the 'Swan Lake ballet', with each of the convicts assuming a graceful but none-the-less dead position on the hotel floor.
More decisions needed to be made. First, whether to proceed to the 'Mojave Outpost' and the 'Cassidy Caravan' cowgirl, or to pursue obtaining a lawman for 'Primm'. Lady Luck, intervened and directed Tuco to visit the NCR prison and convince the ex-sheriff prisoner, if he was still there, to trade up from prisoner to sheriff at 'Primm'. The route she dictated was to go northwest to the railroad and follow the tracks to the NCR Correctional Facility.
Initially all went smoothly and profitably. As Tuco proceeded up the canyon leading to the railroad, he interrupted a gang of 'Jackal' gangers, who had surprised and massacred the occupants of 'The Prospector’s Den': BANG – SNEAK – BANG, BANG! His Trail Carbine spoke and there were more dead outlaws and more loot, including an almost perfect set of reinforced leather armor. But, Tuco was getting over confident and over estimating his capabilities. ('He would shortly pay dearly for it').
When he left the 'Prospector’s Den', he climbed the canyon’s eastern hillside and looked down into 'Jack Rabbit Springs', a radioactive dumping ground in the foothills of the 'Ivanapah Dry Lake'. Down among the rusting drums of radioactive sludge, he saw mutated abominations – Centaurs and Evolved Centaurs and (carelessly decided to indulge in a little sport).
(He was to pay dearly for his warped sense of sport). A Super Mutant Master, appeared far down slope and Tuco eased out his Trail Carbine, for a long range shot at the giant. The Super Mutant Master retaliated with a 'Heavy Incinerator'. The flames hit Tuco, and 'CHANCES CURSE' went Active, as the Knife sensed the flames and TOOK CONTROL. Down the slope into the irradiated arena charged Tuco in a combat knife controlled berserk rage. It was cut and thrust and balls of fire and spreading flames.
When the battle was over, a very injured Tuco, with a severe case of Radiation Poisoning and few hit points remaining staggered out of the arena. He was extremely lucky that there were no other targets in the area for the 'knife' to attack. His stockpile of RAD X and Radaway was almost depleted and he most certainly could not last another bout with a Super Mutant Master or his abominated pets.
This chapter ends on a down note, with the realization that 'CHANCE’S CURSE', is ultimately likely to be lethal if Tuco cannot find a way to neutralize or get rid of the 'knife'. Where will Tuco find the answer to this most pressing of questions, and will he press on to get a lawman for 'Primm', and conduct a successful negotiation with the cowgirl (Cass) at the 'Mojave Outpost' bar? Stay tuned for the next chapter.
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CHAPTER 16
Back Track and Forward:
(The Ghost with the Crystal Eye)
My killers of old, in a dream that was told by a ghost with a crystal eye
They were on a quest, for a courier’s death and a chip from age’s gone by
Their trail had gone cold, it was many days old, and they needed a trail to ply
Then, wonder-wise, I rubbed my eyes and I woke from that horrid dream.
The moon rode high in the desert sky, a cursed Chip in a gambler’s scheme
It held my sight in a patch of light, and faded into the star strewn stream
He told me the tale, of a trail gone stale that had grown so warped and gray
“Look back to your foe, to the last place you know”, his eye gleamed in a wolfish way
That crystal eye that raked the sky, in the weird prophetic way *
Back Track and Forward:
(The Ghost with the Crystal Eye)
My killers of old, in a dream that was told by a ghost with a crystal eye
They were on a quest, for a courier’s death and a chip from age’s gone by
Their trail had gone cold, it was many days old, and they needed a trail to ply
Then, wonder-wise, I rubbed my eyes and I woke from that horrid dream.
The moon rode high in the desert sky, a cursed Chip in a gambler’s scheme
It held my sight in a patch of light, and faded into the star strewn stream
He told me the tale, of a trail gone stale that had grown so warped and gray
“Look back to your foe, to the last place you know”, his eye gleamed in a wolfish way
That crystal eye that raked the sky, in the weird prophetic way *
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THE STORY SO FAR:
A badly injured and radiation poisoned 'Tuco Ramirez', limps down the railroad tracks to the Emergency Service Rail Yard. He is terrified by 'Chance’s Knife' and the situation it put him in back at 'Jack Rabbit Springs'. (He can’t get rid of it! It’s time for the coyote to THINK! THINK and PLOT! Yes … THINK first, PLOT second).
Tuco’s list of possible futures, shifts and reforms, to make room for this new concern and once again a job from the 'Crimson Caravan' and 'Alice McLafferty' is set aside. It was back again to the … !@#$%^n … Knife!
He had a name from those ghostly voices, heard at the highway junction near 'Goodsprings' … 'McMurphy' … with 'Daisy Suit Benny' and his gang of Khans. They probably came down the highway past that demolished Tribal Village. Last heard of leaving 'Primm' and headed for 'Novac' via 'Nipton'. (Maybe pick up a trail there? YEAH … maybe)! 'Old Ben' back in Vegas never said that 'Daisy Suit Benny' actually returned from his last road trip.
So did the 'Daisy Suit Gang' make it past the legion freaks at 'Nipton', or are they crucified somewhere along the town streets? So the place to go is either 'Nipton', to look for bodies or 'Novac' to learn if they made it there.
Okay … THINKING done …now here’s the PLOT: go back up railroad tracks to 'Nipton' and check for bodies (20% - but be careful), (fires seem to bring the 'blade' to life), or go back up the tracks and bypass 'Nipton' and head to 'Novac', to learn if they reached there, (80% - but avoid the road to Searchlight).
Lady Luck rolls the dice and the number is 2. Tuco turns back around and heads up the railroad tracks to 'Nipton'.
At 'Nipton', the coyote is in his element, quietly sliding through the houses and trailers and gathering information and plunder of value, but little inventory weight. Even sharing a moment of commiseration and some Medix with a crippled 'Powder Ganger' named Boxcars in the 'Nipton Trading Post'.
'Caesar’s', vaunted legionaries, are nothing more than clods of desert dirt and brahmin pies on the front porch of 'Nipton’s' Town Hall, their message of death and punishment lost in a Mojave dust devil. Tuco glides silently and effortlessly behind them and their macabre display of crucifixions, in front of the Town Hall, slips inside and loots the structure from the basement to the Mayor’s digs on the top floor.
There’s no sign of the 'Daisy Suit Gang' in 'Nipton', and the coyote slips quietly out of town leaving the legion to continue their vigil, for someone to appear and be impressed with their bloody message.
Next up are the 'Viper' Gunslingers guarding Ambush Gultch … and the 'Wolfhorn Ranch'. From there it’s a short run up the road past Ranger Station Charlie to 'Novac'.
At 'Novac' the town mascot is a giant concrete dinosaur named Dinky, which is the front attraction for the 'Dino Dee-lite motel', and whose mouth provides a sniper’s perch protecting 'Novac' from the Legion coming from the east, and raiders coming down the 93/95 highway.
It is here, between Dinky’s jaws that Tuco finally grabs the missing connection to 'Primm': an ex sharp shooter from the Red Bereted 1st Recon Unit of 'Bitter Springs' infamy: 'Manny Vargas'.
But the connection is not without its risks from ('CHANCE’S CURSE'). The Red Beret and mention of 'Bitter Springs' are not lost upon that serrated blade. But 'Manny’s' history with the 'Great Khans' is a mitigating factor which lowers 'Manny’s' risk to 10%. Lady Luck (always on time), promptly rolls a 32 and thus saves Tuco from the infamy of bloody murder in between Dinky’s jaws of doom.
Tuco has questions, but 'Novac’s' economic engine is sputtering, and 'Manny' has set a requirement, before he will disclose 'Benny’s' next destination or discuss 'Chance'. It’s bad enough that 'Novac' lost a valuable trading partner, when the Legion overran 'Nelson', and the NCR moved into the power station at 'Helios One', but now the town’s only remaining source of pre-war trading commodities, has been completely severed by an influx of ghouls into the 'REPCONN Test Site'.
Tuco’s task is simplicity itself. Go west, down the road and convince the ghouls to vacate the premises: a subject which begs the question of how does one converse with a feral ghoul. This subject may not be as abstract as it may seem, since on his approach and entry into the 'REPCONN' site, he has seen evidence of fighting by at least three different factions: feral ghouls, Bright ghouls, and a rebar wielding nightkin.
Stay tuned Cowboys N’ Gals … Chapter 17 appears to be shaping up into a real donnybrook!
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*Poetry paraphrased from “The Balad of One Eyed Mike” by 'Robert W. Service'.
CHAPTER 17
"Ve Con Dios Jason"
(The Rocket Factory)
They dropped like flakes, they dropped like stars
Like jetsam in a wreck they rose,
When suddenly through empty rooms
Nightkin fist and fury goes
They perished in a shattered mass
Not Jason Bright could find the place
But God on his eternal list
Can summon every ghoul and nightkin’s face *
"Ve Con Dios Jason"
(The Rocket Factory)
They dropped like flakes, they dropped like stars
Like jetsam in a wreck they rose,
When suddenly through empty rooms
Nightkin fist and fury goes
They perished in a shattered mass
Not Jason Bright could find the place
But God on his eternal list
Can summon every ghoul and nightkin’s face *
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THE STORY SO FAR:
Chaos prevails past the doors of the REPCONN Site. In the dimly lit hallways and chambers, a macabre theater of the stealthy back stab or the sudden scuffle of bare feet and the staccato cough of a 20 gauge lever action shotgun disturb the dust and debris of centuries. Lady Luck is rapidly spinning out random directional commands, that leave Tuco lost and confused … and in the basement, facing a brahmin skull, perched on top of an ancient pre-war coffee maker. He is searching the basement for ROBCO’s Legendary Lost Treasure of 'Stealth Boys', and meets up with a character named 'Antler'.
The action slows momentarily and despite the possible communication miscues between Tuco and 'Antler', a deal is struck – Tuco, to defeat or outwit a fearsome Ghoul Warrior in a locked room guarding the ROBCO Treasure, in exchange for 'Antler' and his Nightkin, helping to clear the ‘squishy’ ghouls from the upper floors.
OH MY! How the irony of miscues between human and 'Antler' can undo the best made plans for the ROBCO Treasure retrieval! With 'Antler', – was there a thought of reneging on ‘squishing’ the ghouls once his Nightkin had the treasure? And for Tuco – who is to say that the thought of keeping possession of the ROBCO fortune, didn’t enter into his considerations.
But neither "THE PLAN" nor the ‘MISCUES’ came to pass.
The coyote was too good and the rambling Nightkin and Ghoul Warrior were easily evaded. Tuco – in the full, slow, ('Sneak') mode slid past the traps and up the stairs onto the killzone overhead, looted the Warrior’s jet and ammunition supplies and found the message confirming that the ROBCO TREASURE had been returned to sender.
And now what? There was a ‘touch and go’ moment with 'Antler', but with many warnings and threats of dire repercussions, the antlered one and his Nightkin cronies left to continue their treasure hunt elsewhere. Tuco chose to ignore The Warrior Ghoul and executed a perfect ‘Stop and Shop’, with the generous quantities of ‘salvage’ littering the basement, before proceeding upstairs to confront any remaining Feral ghouls and locate the 'Bright Brotherhood' religious cult.
And 'Jason Bright' … (the leader of the cult) … what to make of a ghoul who is so ‘human’ you can’t see his ‘ghoulness’? And why destroy this enigmatic icon and his followers … they’ll go into their Great Beyond with less help and a clearer conscience, for the cost of a couple of errands to collect some missing parts and a jar of igniting agent. Then it would be ‘ghouls away’ and 'Manny Vargas' up in the dinosaur’s mouth will spill the beans about 'Benny' and most importantly, Chance and this !@#$%^ n knife!
The last scramble, the discovery of 'The Gibson Scrap Yard' and theft of the needed parts, and a trip to an abandoned military facility to recover the Igniting Agent, from the body of a prospector who placed too much faith in an old radiation suit. And at last – a slight ‘twinge’ of the old coyote’s conscience - and … Vie con Dios Jason.
An so the chapter ends with the 'Bright Brotherhood', embarked on their journey to The Far Beyond and 'Tuco Ramirez' headed back to 'Novac' for Lady Luck to roll the dice again for 'CHANCE’S CURSE', and perhaps some useful information from 'Manny Vargas'.
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*Poetry paraphrased from the poem “The Battlefield” by 'Emily Dickinson'.
CHAPTER 18
'The Mongol Blade:'
(ON VENGEANCE WING)
O’er the Angel’s Boneyard wild
East the hungry raven flies;
To 'Bitter Springs' on vengeance wing
Where the blacksmith’s anvil dies:
A Blade to glut his dying rage
Now on his pyre he lies;
The Blade will gorge the welling blood,
As he closed his dying eyes.*
'The Mongol Blade:'
(ON VENGEANCE WING)
O’er the Angel’s Boneyard wild
East the hungry raven flies;
To 'Bitter Springs' on vengeance wing
Where the blacksmith’s anvil dies:
A Blade to glut his dying rage
Now on his pyre he lies;
The Blade will gorge the welling blood,
As he closed his dying eyes.*
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THE STORY SO FAR:
Tuco has returned to 'Novac', and approached 'Manny Vargas' with the news that the ghouls no longer occupied the REPCONN facility. Lady Luck rolled an ‘85’, thus removing the immediate concern of a post traumatic berserk attack by 'Chance’s' Knife'. 'Manny' lived up to his part of the bargain.
Regarding 'Benny', he and the 'Great Khans' were headed north, up the highway to 'Boulder City'. Their relationship was badly frayed, with hard feelings and little trust. The source of much of this discord was a (Khan, named 'Chance').
In regards to 'Chance', he was a fighter badly traumatized by his 'Bitter Springs' experience. 'Chance' had been brought along hoping that the trip would help him let go of his 'Bitter Springs' trauma. But it was not to be. The details 'Manny' didn’t know but 'Chance', had gone into a berserk frenzy and attacked a gang of Fiends, who were themselves engaging in a chem induced frenzy at a nearby Tribal Village. 'Benny', wanted to leave but the khans wouldn’t leave their brother ... a delay for combat and another delay to dig his grave, and the entire expedition hung in the balance over the possibility of 'Benny' missing his courier intercept at 'Goodsprings'.
That was the sum and summary of 'Manny’s' knowledge of the affair, which didn’t leave Lady Luck much to do, except to send Tuco off up the 95 highway to 'Boulder City'. But the journey was not without incident: a merchant caravan, a brief gunfight with a hapless trio of 'Viper' wanna be gunslingers and the El Dorado Gas Station.
It was after looting the gas station that Tuco – (perhaps with his self-opinion a tad over inflated) – spotted the remains of a slaughtered caravan by the shore of the 'El Dorado Dry Lake' and instead of minding his own business dropped down to investigate. He unslung his shotgun and fired a blast of 20 gauge shot at the nearest fire ant thinking to simply obliterate the creature.
BIG MISTAKE! These were not the ‘regular’ giant ants scurrying around a pack brahmin’s corpse's! A retaliatory burst of flames engulfed him and 'Chance’s' Curse leaped into action. The intended victims were Fire Ants and 'Chance’s' Knife assumed full – berserk command!
Wherever a red hash showed up on Tuco’s PIP Boy Compass, the coyote would charge to the attack. Back and forth across the dry lake, over the ant tunnel (which fortunately for the ants the ensorcelled Tuco couldn’t enter), the coyote charged until – at last – there were no more ants and Tuco stood – freed from the (Knife’s spell) - in front of the tunnel entrance to Vault 11.
Vault 11 … not today (Lady Luck!) Not Today! The experience with the formic flame throwers and 'Chance’s' Knife" once again left Tuco badly shaken and in a reflective and passive mood, as he thought on how events might have gone, had he been closer to the NCR Guards at the 'Helios One' Power Facility.
Inner PEACE and TRANQUILITY were to be his mantras, at least until his adrenalin and blood pressure dropped back to normal.
Thus when he came upon the figure of 'The Lonesome Drifter' sleeping peacefully by his campfire Tuco chose to ‘drift by’ into the evening shadows and continue on to 'Boulder City' and a hopeful rendezvous with the 'Khans'.
WHAT? NO GUNS? NO GLORY?
INDEED! … BUT JUST A MINUTE!
INDEED! … BUT JUST A MINUTE!
Tuco enters the ruins of 'Boulder City', crosses the NCR siege lies and comes face to face with the current leader of the 'Great Khan' party – 'Jessup'. Now here’s a man with a GRUDGE and a TALE to tell!
First, the GRUDGE … with 'Benny' and 'New Vegas'. What more can be said beyond the corpse of 'McMurphy', laying on a dirty mattress at the foot of the stairwell, behind the storefront counter. 'Jessup' might be wondering if 'McMurphy’s' fatal wound came from 'Benny’s' 9mm pistol or a 5.56mm NCR bullet, but he knows the caps in payment for the Khan’s services are in 'Benny’s' pockets headed back to the 'New Vegas Strip'.
And then there’s the TALE … the ('MONGOL'), a rusty old keepsake Mongolian cavalry saber, turned to slag in the flames of 'Bitter Springs' … reforged as a 'Combat Knife' by a dying 'Bitter Springs' blacksmith … and taken by 'CHANCE' as a talisman.
I AM THE BLADE OF JUSTICE!
THE TRIBE IS MY WARD!
I GUARD THE WEAK!
DEFEND THE DEFENSELESS!
THE RED BERET DEVILS
AND THEIR MASTERS
OF FIRE AND DEATH
SHALL NOT PASS ON MY WATCH!
WELL … WELL … WELL! Now this is material that Lady Luck can do her work with. Tuco’s ('speech skills') are too laughably low to even consider negotiating the 'Khans' out of this trap, but with a little skill magazine help, he can arrange a bribe with the NCR lieutenant in charge and still get a decent return on his XP (experience points).
'Jessup', having been told the bribe was in, had a few words of advice by way of saying ‘THANKS’.
“Hey Tuco … the 'MONGOL' … that blade you lifted from 'Chance’s' grave! Yeah, yeah … grave robbing n’ all that there … but you didn’t have a choice with the 'MONGOL'. No Sir! Our old blacksmith … Toothless Don … said he got it from his gran-Dad, who got it from his gran-Dad from somewhere in the Angel’s Boneyard. Don’t know details or history but I‘m telling you … the blade was melted in the fire in 'Bitter Springs' … old Don said the fire wern’t hot enough for ‘bulat steel’ but melted it surely was. He remade the slag into that there combat knife you stole … forged it over the funeral pyre of his own kin.
“Toothless Don called the knife the 'MONGOL', quenched the blade in his own blood and gave it to 'Chance', afore he threw himself on the funeral pyre. I’m telling you that blade is cursed! It killed 'Chance' and just as surely it will kill you. Take it back to 'Bitter Springs' and bury it in the old khan cemetery while you still have the time!”
These are dire words indeed … how many more ‘little knife moments’ can Tuco endure before his luck runs out? As Lady Luck would say ‘Roll the dice again baby! I’ll be your Lady tonight!’
Stay tuned cowboys n’ gals and make sure your knives are sharp for the next exciting chapter.
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CHAPTER 19
Quoth The 'Mongol', “Nevermore!”
And the 'Mongol', never leaving, still is sitting, still is waiting
On the knob to turn and open retribution’s door,
And its blade is redly gleaming of a demon that is dreaming
And events by it streaming throws Death’s shadow on the floor,
And when the soul of evil’s shadow lies dead upon the floor
The 'Mongol' shall be lifted nevermore!
Quoth The 'Mongol', “Nevermore!”
And the 'Mongol', never leaving, still is sitting, still is waiting
On the knob to turn and open retribution’s door,
And its blade is redly gleaming of a demon that is dreaming
And events by it streaming throws Death’s shadow on the floor,
And when the soul of evil’s shadow lies dead upon the floor
The 'Mongol' shall be lifted nevermore!
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Paraphrased from "The Raven" by 'Edgar Allen Poe'.
Paraphrased from "The Raven" by 'Edgar Allen Poe'.
THE STORY SO FAR:
"Hey mister coyote … that blade killed 'Chance', just as surely as it will kill you”. With those words 'Jessup' provided the final impetus for Tuco to search out 'Bitter Springs' and rid himself of 'Chance’s Knife' – the ‘Mongol’.
His PIP Boy world map drew a blank. He would have to either find someone to bring 'Bitter Springs' up in dialog – dangerous if the someone was NCR – probably far off in 'Red Rock Canyon' if the someone was a Khan – or maybe 'Lupe', the water merchant at the 'Grub N' Gulp'. Or failing an appearance in dialog maybe he could just patrol the Lake Mead shoreline.
So many choices with ‘what ifs’ sprinkled in among them. Lady Luck rolls the dice (actually flips the pages in a novel) and Tuco heads north, in the direction of the 'Grub N’ Gulp' but somehow ends up skirting the shores of Lake Mead anyway.
The shoreline is populated by small groups of Lakelurks, and the foothills and structures in 'Callville Bay', play host to Cazadors, usually in trios. In these encounters the .44 Magnum Trail Carbine was the dominant factor - spitting out four shots in VATS combat thanks to an ('Agility implant') and the ('Kamikaze') and '(Action Boy') Perks.
A Scavenger Raft floating mid lake, provided an interesting challenge somewhat different than the stealthy sniping along the shoreline and foothills. Tuco, could have left it alone since the shoreline was beyond the range of their sonic pulse wave attacks, but ….
Lastly, the 'Bitter Springs' Recreational Area Refugee Camp and the little graveyard, where stood a grave site with a 'Great Khan' helmet resting in front of the marker. Tuco, knelt at the site and removed 'Chance’s Knife' from his inventory … were there ghostly whispers playing in his ears?
“I AM THE BLADE OF JUSTICE!
THE TRIBE IS MY WARD!”...
Tuco muttered an answer:
“You are a pain in the …
“… almost killed me twice …
“a flea in my ear …
“go back to the grave”
He dropped 'Chance’s Knife' on the grave, got up, turned to leave … and found the knife had returned to his inventory. Okay then, he’d bury the !@#$%^ n thing and be done with it. Except … he didn’t have a shovel. He left it in his stash at the garbage can next to the 'Gun Runner’s' kiosk.
Now the trip back to get the shovel and return, could be a dicey thing (Lady Luck nods her head). Would the knife take control and assault the Cazador’s or even worse the NCR he’d seen at 'Camp Golf'. Maybe it’s time to NEE-GOO -T-IATE! Yeah! Like that!
“Hey Mr. 'Mongol'... Yeah, You sitting there in my personal duffle.
“I know that you know what’s going on, at least sort of "…
I GUARD THE WEAK!
DEFEND THE DEFENSELESS!
…..
“So stay here and guard em”
…..
I’M HERE TO PROTECT AND SERVE
…..
“I don’t need no protection.”
…..
THE TRIBE IS MY WARD
…..
“Tribe? What !@#$%^ n tribe”
…..
THIS TRIBE …..
“Oh …”
The light dawns slowly ... 'Bitter Springs' was the 'Great Khan’s' home before the massacre. Now the NCR has it and is using it to house the refugees from those legion maniacs across the Colorado River. Would the 'Mongol' know the difference between a 'Great Khan' and a Refugee? Hmm! Maybe it’s time to chance a visit to the NCR encampment at the top of the rise and explore the answer.
So here we are cowboys n’ gals … leaving Tuco to open another discussion with the NCR. Hopefully he will not be coming into contact with any of the Massacre participants or Red Berets +++++ OOPS ++++ THIS COULD BE BAD! VERY VERY BAD! Hang on GANG! The next chapter may see some very radical changes in Tuco’s immediate future!
So stay tuned, or as Sunny Smiles would say ‘Until next time'.
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CHAPTER 20
(PRE-QUEST NOTE – 'BITTER SPRINGS' AND 'CHANCE’S CURSE'):
'Bitter Springs', is a complex location offering many game-play and character development possibilities for Tuco and for his unintended traveling companion, the unique and cursed combat knife once called ‘Chance’s Knife’ but now revealed to be ‘The Mongol’. The manner in which the 'Bitter Springs' site affects our ‘hero’ and his companion during each visit to the 'Bitter Springs' Campground is dependent upon the status of the NCR flag.
Firstly, if the NCR flag is hung right side up, there is no risk of 'The Mongol' taking control of Tuco and launching berserk attacks inside the camp grounds. In addition Tuco has an opportunity to bury 'The Mongol' in the 'Great Khan' Cemetery and thus be permanently rid of the cursed knife if he decides the risks of 'The Mongol’s' taking control outweigh its combat benefits. Once buried the knife is essentially destroyed and cannot be dug up and sold or reused.
Or, if the NCR flag is hung upside down AND Tuco leaves a ‘Peace Sacrifice’ * on a grave in the 'Great Khan' Cemetery BEFORE entering the campground proper, there is a 5% risk of activating 'The Mongol' for that visit and 5% for each time he is in active dialog with 'Captain Gilles'. If Tuco does not leave a pre-entry Peace Sacrifice, the risks increases to 10% at campground entry and per active dialog.
*NOTE – a suitable Peace Sacrifice is a blood, egg, hand, hide, meat or poison gland from one of the following predators: Cazador, Deathclaw, Fire Gecko, Lakekurk or Nightstalker. Once left on a 'Great Khan' grave it cannot be taken and sold or reused.
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Because I Would Not Stop For Death *:
Because I would not stop for Death
Death kindly stopped for me
My 'Mongol Blade' held just for vengeance
And Immortality
We slowly searched – we knew no haste
To atone and put the Blade away
Our labor and our leisure too,
For Death’s Civility
The 'Mongol’s Blade' - ‘tis Centuries - and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the blood it sheds
Falls towards Eternity
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*Poem paraphrased from “Because I Would Not Stop for Death” by 'Emily Dickinson'.
THE STORY SO FAR:
Tuco, has tried and failed thus far to get rid of 'The Mongol' and thus free himself from the onus of berserk-er knife attacks on 'Bitter Springs' NCR veterans, or fire wielding foes and critters. In addition, he’d forgotten to bring his shovel to bury it, even if he could. But his ‘conversation’ with 'The Mongol' seemed to leave open the possibility for guile and deception, if the knife was unable to tell the difference between a 'Great Khan' and a refugee. He approaches the NCR 'Bitter Springs' bivouac cautiously, a coyote, wary but aware of the possibilities of losing his unwanted companion, and observes that the NCR flag has been hung upside down: TROUBLE!
The ghost whispers in the cemetery, an NCR distress signal, maybe it’d be a good idea to leave some sort of peace offering before getting too deeply committed. He searches his inventory and finds a cazador egg. Perhaps that would do? Yeah!
He backtracks to the cemetery and gently deposits one of his cazador eggs on a gravesite next to a 'Great khan' spike helmet. He listens for a reaction … nothing, the whispers are unchanged … but his (child of the wild) ears twitch and fail to detect any hint of vindictive intent in the lakeside breezes.
Lady Luck rolls the dice … its 95 … and 'The Mongol' is passive and quiet.
He passes beneath the inverted flag and enters at the hospital tent for a brief, unproductive conversation with the camp’s medical officer, 'Lieutenant Markland'. Next he climbs up the slope and enters the quad where he spots movement in the command tent. He takes a deep breath to flood his bloodstream with additional, energy generating, oxygen and enters to confront 'Captain Gilles', the First Recon officer who gave the order leading to the 'Bitter Spring’s' Massacre.
Lady Luck rolls the dice … its 12 … close, 'The Mongol' stirs but remains quiet.
The dialog moves forward, discussing the inverted flag and the causative problems at the camp. And now the coyote senses an advantage … solve the Camp’s Problems … 'The Mongol' relaxes its vigilance … he retrieves the shovel from his stash at the 'Gun Runners' kiosk … digs swiftly and deep in the cemetery … and puts that !@#$%^ n bloody serrated blade to rest once and for all! YEAH!
So now he has a plan! Two quests from the Captain ‘No, Not Much’ and ‘Climb Ev’ry Mountain’ and a third from the camp’s medical officer, the ‘Bitter Springs' Infirmary Blues' and … ZOOK! ZOOK! … the NCR flag will hang normally, 'The Mongol' will fall asleep and the deed will be DONE. What could be simpler?
Well for one thing … 'The Mongol' itself! One low value die roll by Lady Luck and 'The Mongol' running loose on the Campground will effectively ‘kill’ the opportunity to remove the curse. Lady Luck cannot be bribed to shade her die rolls in his favor and therefore he cannot afford the risks of making multiple trips. He’s going to have to operate out of a base somewhere remote, and complete all three quests before returning to 'Bitter Springs'.
There are two likely areas for Tuco to work from. North centered around the 'Gun Runner’s' kiosk and south centered around 'Novac'.
Lady Luck rolls the dice for the northern approach and Tuco heads out past the cemetery and the notorious 'Coyote Tail Ridge'. He skirts 'Callville Bay', towards his ‘stash house’ at the 'Fisherman’s Pride' but not without skirmishing with the Cazador infestation at the Callville warehouse. And lastly with a solitary Lakelurk at the entrance to the 'Fisherman’s Pride' where he eats, drinks, and rests before collecting his stash and heads out.
The following activities, will be a question for Lady Luck – should he travel cross country past 'Camp Golf' and take the 95 highway into Outer Vegas, or take the eastern overland road before connecting with Outer Vegas from the east?
Lady Luck, says to take the highway 95 route and off load his stash at the 'Gun Runners', pick up a 'subdermal implant' at the Medical Clinic, and the medical books needed by 'Lieutenant Markland' before deciding on whether to concentrate on the personnel or the supply quests in the next chapter.
Stay tuned buckaroos … we’ll see you off at the northern terminus for Tuco’s next exciting adventure.
Keep your guns cleaned and plenty of ammo at hand!
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CHAPTER 21
SCORNED BY NCR INGRATITUDE:
God Bless the NCR (NOT)
*It fell one night in the waning light of the shift in their oily flow,
No thanks he got,there was but naught but a Colonel’s whiny No!
So the 'Mongol’s Curse', he’d have to nurse, but OH he’d make them pay
All wobbly flakes and wriggling snakes and he’d steal a Red Beret!
*Poetry paraphrased from “The Ballad of One Eyed Mike” by 'Robert W. Service'
SCORNED BY NCR INGRATITUDE:
God Bless the NCR (NOT)
*It fell one night in the waning light of the shift in their oily flow,
No thanks he got,there was but naught but a Colonel’s whiny No!
So the 'Mongol’s Curse', he’d have to nurse, but OH he’d make them pay
All wobbly flakes and wriggling snakes and he’d steal a Red Beret!
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*Poetry paraphrased from “The Ballad of One Eyed Mike” by 'Robert W. Service'
THE STORY SO FAR:
Tuco stands at the exit from the Medical Clinic, his 'Damage Tolerance' increased by a 'Sub-Dermal armor implant', and his inventory slimmed down to ‘looting’ weight. He faces south and ponders his next endeavor, to set up a funeral for 'The Mongol'. He has two quest options – ‘No, Not Much’ or ‘Climb Every Mountain’ - but both must succeed, before he can permanently plant the ^@#$%^ 'knife' in a 'Great Khan' grave. So which option will he attempt first?
Lady Luck rolls the dice and the ‘No, Not Much’ quest comes up the winner. More troops for the 'Bitter Springs' garrison!
Tuco’s first stop is at 'Camp McCarran', thinking that his prior bounty hunting work for 'Colonel Hsu' and 'Major Dhatri' might easily peel away some troops for 'Bitter Springs'. 'WRONG' … don’t presume to infringe on military authority (!@#$%^ Bird Colonel).
Well, maybe if he beat a confession out of a captured 'Legion Centurion' … 'WRONG AGAIN!' … your reputation isn’t good enough for the !@#$%^ Lady Cop!
His anger grew as he left 'Camp McCarran', and moved southeast towards 'Camp Golf', more live Fiends, dead NCR Troopers and the remains of a slaughtered caravan. His 'Granny Grudge' could dispense more justice with her broom than that incompetent bird turd colonel could with his camp full of soldiers!
SCREW THE NCR!
By the time he got to 'Camp Golf' and was pointed to a squad of unhappy, unmotivated recruits, he was in no mood to ponder honesty or argue when an opportunity arose, to alter their fitness reports and get them sent onto 'Bitter Springs'. If they were killed later due to their unpreparedness it would be the NCR’s fault not his!
On-wards to the House Resort and some exploration and judicious pilferage. He noted with disgust that the disarray on the second level had as much if not more evidence of chem abuse than 'Vault 3'. He was amazed … were the Rangers, supposedly the NCR’s finest and best a bunch of druggies no better than the Fiends? A little sense of self-righteous indignity crossed his mind: HE WASN’T SO BAD!
Loaded down with pilferage, including a full suit of stolen Combat Armor he proceeded southeastwards to:
'Mountain Shadows Campground', 'Ranger Station Alpha', 'Boulder City' and finally 'Camp Forlorn Hope', where the whispers in the camp cemetery were fearful and uncertain, and the general atmosphere seemed to be hopeless and helpless, even before that message was driven home by the commander, 'Major Polanti'. No wonder, Tuco thinks, the NCR troops seemed like lambs compared to the legion wolves!
Oh well, time for the coyote to put on sheep’s clothing and ... OH! OH! … He sees two of the First Recon war criminals: 'Lieutenant Gorobets' and 'Corporal Sterling' lurking in the tent!
Lady Luck rolls the dice: the Lieutenant and the Corporal each need a roll of 6 or better and … Tuco blinks … they each beat the number and 'The Mongol' blade remains inert in Tuco’s inventory.
Now, Tuco must confront a new problem. The First Recon Unit – the famous/infamous, ‘Red Berets’ – the perpetrators of the 'Bitter Springs' Massacre have been transferred to 'Camp Forlorn Hope' from 'Camp McCarran'.
What to do? Even if he can work something out with 'Major Polanti', and even if Lady Luck rolls a passing number at every encounter, and even then, if the troops sent to 'Bitter Springs' are the First Recon … and then what? He’s @#$%^’ n out of luck and will never be able to enter the 'Great Khan' Cemetery to bury 'The Mongol'!
!@$%^& … !@#$%^& … AND … ;@@#$%^!
But coyote's are PERSISTENT and Tuco is not yet quite ready to give up … not without something to profit his pride from this long, fruitless exercise to bury 'The Mongol'. No Sir! Those First Recon vultures would be only too happy to nail his poor bullet riddled hide to a shed, to cure in the Mojave sun but by god and by golly it ain’t a going to happen!
He wants a trophy and one of them there RED BERETS would do just fine. Yeah! And maybe, just maybe, a Red Beret on his head would shut 'The Mongol' down? Or maybe fool Lady Luck a little and nudge her die rolls in his favor, or maybe worse?
Hold on a minute! That other war criminal one, the distinguished old feller in a Ranger Hat …. he has that fancy Cowboy Repeater with a scope … might also be worth considering.
Okay here’s the deal! Got’s to use dynamite … not that newfangled C4 plastic stuff. No siree! Let’s find us another Red Beret n’ stuff a stick of good ole ‘long fuse’ in his pocket back up … ‘n BANG! Grab his beret n’ stuff n’ lam outta here for now. Yeah, go do something else until I kin make a batch of time bombs ‘n get all these Red Beret sons of ??es. Yeah!
Tuco scours the 'Camp Forlorn Hope' tents and structures. In the barracks he spies 'Corporal Betsy' and 'Sergeant Bitter Root'. In the Mess Hall, he finds the 10 of Spades. For this assassination, he picks the 10 of Spades. Activates a 'Stealth Boy' and sneaks in towards the unsuspecting target from the side.
A quick and quiet pickpocket, leaves an armed long fuse stick of dynamite in the victim’s inventory. Tuco backs quickly away and … BANG! The 10 of Spades and two NCR troopers standing in harm’s way crumble to the ground, dead as stones.
Tuco quickly plunders the 10 of Spades and the Troopers, then fades quietly through the camp and out into the solitude and silence of the Mojave night.
Well! Well! What will be next for Tuco? Will he chance returning to 'Camp Forlorn Hope', to determine the effect if any, of his newly acquired Red Beret on 'Chance’s Curse' and perhaps milk the Major for additional work? Will he play it safe and restart his interrupted quest, to install a new sheriff for 'Primm'? How about raising his 'Barter skill', sufficiently to persuade the 'Cassidy Cowgirl' at the 'Mojave Outpost' Bar to sell her demolished caravan to 'Alice McLafferty' at the 'Crimson Caravans'? Stay tuned and stay ready.
As Sunny Smiles says, “Till next time!”
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CHAPTER 22:
THE COYOTE SCHEMES
(The Looney Tuned Wiley One):
The pre-war legend burning bright
The 'Wiley Coyote' king of sleight
Oh what his victim’s hand and eye
Can catch his action on the sly
In what desert sands or skies
Burnt the gleam of cagey eyes
Oh how clever did he aspire
To steal the goal, avoid the fire
And what shoulder, and what art
Could guide the sinews of his heart
And when his heart began to beat
What swift fingers, stealthy feet
What the plotting, what the brain
To avoid receiving retribution’s pain
What the prize what quick grasp
Dare the foe’s captors clasp
When the war struck with spears
Smote the world and shed no tears
Did foes grind their teeth to see
You sneaking free so stealthily
Oh 'Looney Tuned One' friend of sleight
Smite the foes and friends of blight
And what immortal hand or eye
Dare frame God’s clever symmetry? *
THE COYOTE SCHEMES
(The Looney Tuned Wiley One):
The pre-war legend burning bright
The 'Wiley Coyote' king of sleight
Oh what his victim’s hand and eye
Can catch his action on the sly
In what desert sands or skies
Burnt the gleam of cagey eyes
Oh how clever did he aspire
To steal the goal, avoid the fire
And what shoulder, and what art
Could guide the sinews of his heart
And when his heart began to beat
What swift fingers, stealthy feet
What the plotting, what the brain
To avoid receiving retribution’s pain
What the prize what quick grasp
Dare the foe’s captors clasp
When the war struck with spears
Smote the world and shed no tears
Did foes grind their teeth to see
You sneaking free so stealthily
Oh 'Looney Tuned One' friend of sleight
Smite the foes and friends of blight
And what immortal hand or eye
Dare frame God’s clever symmetry? *
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*Paraphrased from the poem “The Tyger" by 'William Blake'.
.*Paraphrased from the poem “The Tyger" by 'William Blake'.
THE STORY SO FAR:
Standing outside the gates to 'Camp Forlorn Hope', Tuco is assaulted by the mixture of elation, over his newly acquired Red Beret trophy, and yet intimidated by the future prospects of 'The Mongol', interacting in a murderous manner with the world, beyond 'Bitter Springs' and The 'Great Khans'.
The cursed blade’s bloody thirst for revenge, is costing him dearly at the expense of his own, personal vendetta dreams for the 'Van Graff’s' and 'Benny', 'The Daisy Suit'. How to make 'The Mongol', a part of HIS programs for revenge and not the other way around? How indeed?
It was clear, that REPUTATION could be a barrier to any potential manipulation of 'The Mongol'. Already his reputation is MIXED, with the NCR and had kept him from doing a simple job of ‘helping’ the lady MP at 'Camp McCarran', beat up a Legion prisoner and thereby get the (bird turd) 'Colonel Hsu', to ‘ease’ a few additional NCR bodies to 'Bitter Springs' for the ‘No, Not Much’ quest.
He needed a SHIELD between his REPUTATION with the Mojave Factions and whatever deeds might be necessary, to either make 'The Mongol' a controllable henchman OR permanently bury 'The Mongol' ‘Six Feet Under’ at a marker in the 'Bitter Springs' Cemetery.
In short! Tuco must become 'The Wile E. Coyote'! The living Legendary pre-war ‘Looney Tuned One’. The Overconfident-ii Vulgar-is, who teaches and illustrates the folly of greed and vengeance, while indulging in both, he must become 'the non-ordained preacher on the vagaries of fortune and how to make doubt a certainty'. *
But alas his Skill Set and Attributes are all wrong, for ‘The Looney Tuned One’. What he needs are ('Speech'), ('Barter') and tons of ('Intelligence') and ('Charisma') with a reliable, disciplined, fight’n companion, instead of ('Guns'), ('Melee') and ('Strength') and ('Agility') with an ungovernable, berserk prone, combat knife.
So where to begin the makeover?
A collection of Disguises would be a good start! Back into the 'Camp Forlorn Hope' Mess Hall to get the 10 of Spades’ Face Wrap Armor. Then, backtrack through the southern merchants between the 'Gibson Scrap Yard' and 'Goodsprings', to look for 'Great Khan', 'Legion' and 'Powder Gang' disguise apparel and so begins the quest.
Oh how Lady Luck smiled on the coyote! As he approached the 'Gibson Scrap Yard' he caught glimpses of fluttering, giant, bright orange insect wings to the south, near The Southern Nevada Wind Farm: Cazadors – eggs and poison glands, useful for placating the ghosts of 'Bitter Springs'!
But that was not all! The fortunes of the Lucky Lady, were only just beginning! He topped a rise, and there below him, were the bodies and debris of a slaughtered NCR foraging patrol, complete with the 'legion' perpetrators lurking nearby and ready to pounce.
Ho! Ho! Ho! Tuco racked up a 20 gauge Magnum shell into his trusty Lever Action and pretended to nose around the supply crates, while the ‘PERPS’ crept up into killing range.
Now the action slowed somewhat. The fullness of his inventory, dictated a trip to the 'Gibson Scrap Yard' and 'Novac', and although his bottle cap purse emerged full, neither merchant could turn up a 'Great Khan', 'Fiend' or 'Power Ganger' disguise.
Still, he was in high spirits. He was nearly good to go with the ‘My Kind of Town’ and ‘Heartache by the Number’ quests, here on the southern part of the Mojave. In addition, with a couple of leveling tweaks to his ('Explosives') skill, he’d be able to create Time Bombs and eliminate the complete First Recon Unit with no consequences or concerns regarding their possible transfer to 'Bitter Springs'.
OH YEAH! ‘Fonito Bonito’ 'Mongol'! MY way or the GRAVE way!
Head south, Tuco. Head south ‘n nudge a lil’ to the west. Pass 'Ranger Station Charlie' and … Lady Luck helps again … an exciting side trip into Walking Box Cavern ‘n an encounter with a pack of 'Nightstalkers' for more ‘ghost appeasement’ goodies for the 'Bitter Springs' Cemetery.
Next, there’s a run in with some 'Viper' Gunslingers, and - starting to head southwest along the railroad tracks next to 'Nipton' - he finds a Coyote Den and a Hidden Supply Cave – AND – TA DA! –Lady Luck flips the light switch, to energize the 'Looney Tunes' LIGHT BULB for a GREAT IDEA!
The gang of 'Caesars' finest, is still lounging around on the porch of the 'Nipton' Town Hall and basking in the glow of their bonfires, be-headings and crucifixions. Maybe it was time for a visitation by the 'Overconfident-ii Vulgar-is' and his ever trusty Trail Carbine (although perhaps, not so overconfident as to disdain the use of a 'Stealth Boy' for additional security). Tuco, steps behind the corner of a house and emerges as … 'The Looney Tuned One', the Overconfident-ii Vulgar-is.
He’s now acquired a 'Powder Ganger' disguise and his inventory duffel is bulging with legion weapons n’ stuff. Time to forget the railroad journey westward to the NCR prison for the ‘My Kind of Town’ quest. Instead Tuco heads southwest towards the 'Mojave Outpost'. There’s the ‘Heartache by the Number’ quest – or would be, if he had a ‘Salesman Weekly’ skill magazine or could boost his ('Barter') skill by 10 points at his next level up. But there’s also other quests from the NCR garrison that might help with his Reputation.
The 'Mojave Outpost' garrison, provided two quests, ‘Can You Find It In Your Heart’ and ‘Keep Your Eyes on The Prize’, which Tuco performs, but which don’t improve his reputation with the NCR. And so he drops down onto the desert, heading northward along the western foothills and old US highway 15. The Radscorp and Feral Ghoul ‘game’ is plentiful and it’s not long before he reaches the 17th level up. Time to pile on some points and raise ('Barter') to 50 so he can engage the 'Cassidy Cowgirl' (Cass) in a negotiation for the sale of her defunct caravan to 'Alice McLafferty' at the 'Crimson Caravan'.
HOLD IT RIGHT THERE BUCKAROO!
It’s Lady Luck in full gambling attire! There’s several other pressing issues that need to be addressed other than ‘Miss Cassidy Cowgirl’ and her defunct caravan. What about, for instance, ‘The Reunion’ quest. It’s right up the road from the California Sunset Drive-in Theater at the Canyon Wreckage. Or, even more pressing and delinquent, the ‘My Kind of Town’ quest. I mean you shot that poor 'deputy Beagle' in the 'Bison Steve hotel' and owe 'Johnson Nash' and 'Primm' a new lawman.
So many things, so little time and Lady Luck is refusing to budge until she’s had her say.
Hang onto your Stetson’s buckaroos – there’s going to be a rocky new chapter coming up! See you then!
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* Paraphrased quote from "Soapy" Smith II a con artist, saloon and gambling house proprietor, gangster, and crime boss of the 19th-century Old West.
CHAPTER 23
COWBOY JUSTICE
(I Was Drinking Some Agave)
"I was drinking some agave with a lady in Mojave
When I suddenly heard a knocking at the door.
And the knocker he said "Honey"
Roll the Rocker out some money
Or your Daddy shoots a baddy to the floor." *
COWBOY JUSTICE
(I Was Drinking Some Agave)
"I was drinking some agave with a lady in Mojave
When I suddenly heard a knocking at the door.
And the knocker he said "Honey"
Roll the Rocker out some money
Or your Daddy shoots a baddy to the floor." *
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*Poetry paraphrased from the “Pogo” comic strip of the ‘60’s by probably the funniest man of the era 'Walt Kelly' – “I was eating some chop Suey with a Lady in Saint Louis”
THE STORY SO FAR:
'The blade from the grave' … an epiphany from nowhere, exploding in a bone and flesh shredding blast of 20 gauge Magnum buckshot that hurled a charging feral ghoul backwards off its feet onto the Mojave sands. It all comes down to the knife … 'The Mongol' blade!
Justice! Right to redeem wrong! Blood to quench blood!
Well - maybe - iffen what the 'The Mongol' needs is justice, then Tuco goes back to the 'Mojave Outpost' to see the 'Cassidy Cowgirl' about her defunct caravan. Yes sir … Tuco, had seen a lot of them destroyed caravans lately, some with a finger pointed at the 'Van Graff’s'. His 'Granny Grudge' owes them 'Van Graff' varmints some justice too. It may be that dispensing a little justice, what might just ease things up with the NCR n’ get the flag hung right at the 'Bitter Springs' cemetery, so’s he could bury the knife n’ be done with the curse.
It’s been a while since he’d slept, and a little food and rad free water wouldn’t hurt either. Lady Luck rolled her dice and he headed west, using some of his RAD X to penetrate the Mesquite Mountains Crater and reach Hell’s Motel where a trio of Ghoul Reavers and a Crazed Mister Handy's provided the room service.
After a good night’s rest, Tuco returns to the ''Mojave Outpost' to discuss 'Cass Cassidy’s' caravan blues and form a partnership consummated by Tuco’s own 750 caps and 'Alice McLafferty’s' offer from the 'Crimson Caravan'. Tuco furthered his investment, with a set of Combat Armor (stolen from the NCR Rangers at 'Camp Golf') and a Riot Shotgun (also funded by the same Rangers).
They took a tour of caravans that had been savaged, robbed and slaughtered by thugs, careless enough squat with their spurs on, leaving ample evidence, incriminating both the 'Van Graff’s' and, surprisingly to both Tuco and 'Cass', that 'Alice McLafferty' had managed to dig for water under her own outhouse, the 'Crimson Caravan'.
Now is the time for them to ‘Cowboy Up And Ride’!
The 'Van Graff’s', first at their 'Silver Rush' stronghold and when the last body, 'Jean-Baptiste Cutting', (‘bit the dust’), Tuco and 'Cass', looted the 'Silver Rush' from floor to ceiling (hard locks excepted), and split the profits at the Usual Markets.
And for the 'Crimson Caravan' - well a gun and three of a kind always beats three of a kind, but sometimes a dose of long fuse dynamite beats all! Good bye and good riddance 'Alice McLafferty'.
And then it was over. The two purveyors of ‘Cowboy Justice’ had other, separate goals and tasks to accomplish. 'Cass' headed back to the 'Mojave Outpost' and Tuco - well - Tuco has a date with Lady Luck and 'The Mongol' in the next chapter, but who knows, fates and the Lady may well bring these two back together again in the future for another piping hot serving of Cowboy Justice.
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CHAPTER 24
RIDE TO PERDITION
(The Long Divide)
I quit my grave, kicked up some dust,
An’ stood a storm or two.
I hit the road, to Hell’s abode
Forgiving thoughts were few
I’ll track you through the sand that glows
Death’s grin is smiling wide
I’ll trace you on those ruined roads
That lead to the long Divide *
RIDE TO PERDITION
(The Long Divide)
I quit my grave, kicked up some dust,
An’ stood a storm or two.
I hit the road, to Hell’s abode
Forgiving thoughts were few
I’ll track you through the sand that glows
Death’s grin is smiling wide
I’ll trace you on those ruined roads
That lead to the long Divide *
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*Paraphrased from the ‘Cowboy Death Quotes’ and the poem ‘Compadre’ by the poet 'Jim Fish'.
THE STORY SO FAR:
‘Funny you should say that, because that’s on your menu along with some other appointments that you’re late for'. It’s Lady Luck, and she’s still upset that Tuco, had ignored her agenda and broke off with 'Cass', ‘The Rose of Sharon’ 'Cassidy', to trim the 'Van Graff' family tree, and plant 'Alice McLafferty' six feet underground in the last chapter.
Lady Luck’s agenda has changed but little, except that each quest now has an equal probability: Ring-a-Ding-Ding, 'Nothin’ But a Hound Dog', 'My Kind Of Town', and – a new addition - 'The Reunion'.
She, either cheated, or the roll of the dice was prophetic as the number came up a ‘79 and Tuco will be riding the Mojave sands along the old US Interstate -15 highway, against the winds of war torn memories and the harbingers of dooms to come at the gates of the Divide, just west of 'Primm'.
So, who is this 'Ulysses' – the purveyor of the map coordinates to the wreckage site for this so called ‘Reunion’? Is he the same, mysterious Desert Rat, told by 'Johnson Nash', who fobbed the (cursed poker chip) off and vanished into the wastes of the Divide?
The desolation of the shattered old highway, erupted into a brief flurry of combat, at an unexpected clash with a pack of psycho frenzied 'Fiends', at the derelict Sampson Rock Crushing Plant.
And then came Hunters Farm, where a stray bullet ignited an exploding gas tank in the rusting hulk of a pre-war Corvega plant and spelled doom in the steely bites of the serrated teeth of 'The Mongol' for a pair of 'Powder Gangers' and a trio of Fire Geckos, in a truly virtuoso cadenza of blood and unrestrained violence.
With a dying last gasp of a 'Powder Ganger', the winds of ill-fortune blew through the stalks of withered maize and strands of rusting barbed wire between the fence posts. The adrenaline and berserk high gave way to fatigue. Tuco opened the farmhouse door to search for a kitchen, with a refrigerator hopefully working well enough for a cold brew and something edible, before searching out a bed hopefully free of lice.
Soon enough, the passing hours began to weigh heavily inside the farmhouse. Did the 'Powder Gangers' or perhaps even the Fire Geckos, have friends or pack-mates that might come looking? It was time to move on! And so, it wasn’t long before the broken highway pavement, led to the Junction 15 Railway Station, the last stop before circumnavigating 'Black Mountain' and the multitudes of Deathclaws performing their veritable Nutcracker’s Suite along the highway, and railroad tracks leading past 'Quarry Junction' and the quasi-town of 'Sloan'. But no trip along this highway, before jumping off to sneak around the base of 'Black Mountain', would be complete without at least one turn of ‘Dancing With The Deathclaws’, and Tuco complied with multiple blasts of 20 gauge Magnum to set the tempo of the music!
A scramble along the rocks and ridges of 'Black Mountain' finally gave way to the flaming barrels and barricades that marked the northern ‘city limit’ of 'Sloan'. Tuco paused, attempted a survey of his body’s stats and concluded that he’d best travel on through to 'Goodsprings', where the water in 'Trudy’s Saloon' bathroom was plentiful and rad free, and 'Doc Mitchell' could minister his aches and pains for a mere 50 cap fee.
And after that - well - another Mojave Express Mailbox package dispensed to 'Novac', and - OH NO! - the consequences of a bad decision made back in Chapter 15, to take an ill-conceived series of pot shots at the Abominations, haunting the radioactive debris dump at 'Jack Rabbit Springs'. An Evolved Centaur, a revenge seeking survivor of that slaughter, has somehow followed Tuco’s trail down onto the streets of 'Primm'. Good thing the residents are still fortified in the 'Vikki and Vance Casino'.
The Evolved Centaur, is an abomination and a blot on the Mojave, that is finally erased with a point blank dose of Magnum shot from Tuco’s 20 gauge. But the path to the canyon wreckage is fraught with vestiges come to life of other old grudges – The 'Jackals' and the 'Powder Gangers', and the desert road up into the canyon past the California Sunset Drive-in Theater, is still haunted by coyotes and a Feral Ghoul or two.
The Canyon Wreck. Scrawled graffiti cursing ‘Courier Six’, and a junk yard door - that opens onto 'The Lonesome Road', into the long Divide! A scenic viewpoint into Hell and Perhaps, just Perhaps, 'REDEMPTION', not only for Tuco but Perhaps for the tortured, traumatized spirit inhabiting the serrated steel blade of 'The Mongol'.
Well my compadre’s, the next steps will be into the ‘dark that glows’ and whatever awaits in the next as yet unwritten chapter. As Sunny Smiles says ‘Until Next Time’. Hope to see you then!
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Thus, ends (Volume 1) at the Canyon Wreckage gateway to ('The Long Divide'). In (Volume 2) he will find himself in the often unwanted possession of a 'Eye Bot' with a split personality, a fully 'locked and loaded' missile silo and the prospect of reaping a fortune in bottle caps as a dealer in nuclear weaponry, and the target for vengeance from a mysterious figure leading an army of feral ghouls claiming to come from his past, to deal out retribution for crimes he has no recollection of committing.