Wanderer's Diary: Week Twenty Nine

Day 197: Diary thing.

Audio file embed. Automatic transcription as follows.

Lone Wanderer: Today, I went and got the nice lady the batteries and yeast, and she made me the moonshine she said she would. Also punga fruits. It didn't taste nice, but it made me feel all weird, and I like when that happens. Then I was sick in the swamp. I also found another hole with the holotape about gas in it by an old playhouse. Then near that, I found a biiiiiiiiig lake, and it had glowing Nuka-Cola bottles floating on it. So I swam out and got them. Then I stopped swimming because I was tired and nearly sank because of the power armour. But it was okay, because I found a safe. I didn't remember how to open them except that it was something I did with bobby pins, so I just stuck it in and forced it, and found a stealth boy and some other things. Then I climbed out of the lake and was sick again. There were also a lot of ghouls and swamp men trying to hurt me, but I hurt them right back, and that taught them a lesson! I think there was something else I was meant to do today, but I think I forgot it again. Oh well. I'll remember tomorrow. Going to bed now. Nice lady is letting me stay at her shack. She's so nice. I hope she makes more moonshine. I like moonshine. Anyway, good night, diary!

Day 198: BRAIN.

Audio file embed. Automatic transcription as follows.

Lone Wanderer: Today I remembered what I was meant to do! Desmond asked me to go find the tribals and sneak into their group! Stupid tribals. They think I'm enlightened now. I'm not enlightened. Really, I'm just pretending. Stupid tribals. And then, I found Nadine. Girl who I was asked to find by the other lady. I told her to come home, but she said no. Then she told me my head had been cut open and a bit of brain removed! She helped with scar, but I still feel funny. I don't remember having so many problems with fixing stuff or opening locks before. What if I've got BRAIN DAMAGE?! I must have, because some of it's GONE! And Nadine went off to find out who did it, and asked me to meet her by the ferry in a few days. Maybe Tobar might know. I hope he can help me get my brain back. OH! And Nadine also told me where to find the leader of the tribals, called Jackson! He's in a cave someplace, but I'll get him later! I need to GET MY BRAIN BACK! Tomorrow. Right now, punga fruits.

Day 199: IT WAS TOBAR. FUCKING TOBAR.

Audio file embed. Automatic transcription as follows.

Lone Wanderer: Today, I went back to Nadine and talked to her by the pier, and she told me that it was TOBAR who took my brain! And I went into the ship to talk to Tobar, and he attacked me! So then I KILLED HIM! Because he said things about my dad that made me mad. I bet my dad could have beat up his dad. Then Nadine said she was taking his ship, so I could go home if I wanted. But I didn't want to, because I need to help Desmond still. So instead she let me just sleep on the boat tonight. And I took Tobar's clothes, because I can't sleep in power armour anymore, and they looked comfy. I tried to eat him too, but he still tasted yucky, so I threw him into the sea. Then I was sick again. My head hurts, and even though I found my brain again in a little jar, I can't figure out how to put it back. I feel really sad now. I'm going to miss being smart.

Day 200: Glad that ordeal is over.

Ooh! Finally! It's like a big hazy cloud of fog over my thinking has been lifted! I feel positively rejuvenated!

Perhaps I should explain.

In my temporary state of retardation thanks to that hick Tobar and his sick games, I wandered off from the Duchess Gambit earlier today without my power armour. I took all my weapons and other equipment with me, but left my armour behind in favour of just wearing the grifter's fit, which is the name of Tobar's outfit. My addled mind at the time prevented me from thinking ahead and realising that it was a bad idea to go out into swampfolk-infested lands without decent protection.

This was a blessing in disguise, however. During my mindless wandering, I had the good fortune to get shot by a group of swampfolk. Multiple times, in fact. They shot me, and shot me, and shot until they could shoot no more, and I lost so much blood and had so much tissue destroyed that it triggered another Oasis reaction.

Boom! Like a mini nuke, I once again burst with energy and exploded so hard it killed everyone near me, and it grievously injured the other poor fools who were close by. The swampfolk didn't know what hit 'em. Neither do I, still. What I do know is that once it was over, I was once again feeling refreshed, rejuvenated, and completely new.

And I do mean completely new. New brain for starters, no longer missing that vital part that I needed to not be a knuckle-dragging neanderthal. New tongue, because everything tastes different again, punga fruits are now vile to me, and I have a craving for a brahmin steak. New skin, without the scar from the operation or any bullet wounds, and also black. Very black. I've never been black before. Not sure what to think of it. And I've noticed my voice is deeper too.

Whatever it means though, I'm no longer a drooling moron, and I appreciate that. I think I'm done questioning what exactly happened to me to cause this. I think I'll just assume that God is very happy with me and decided to give me a few extra bodies as a thank you present for doing his work, and live the rest of my multiple lives in happily oblivious acceptance.

I think that's a reasonable reaction to all this bullshit.

I went back afterwards and retrieved my power armour from the ship. Had to convince Nadine of who I was first, and that was fun to explain. I made up some story about magic pre-war tech from my vault doing it, because I didn't quite want to admit that I had no idea what does it either.

Then I returned to Kenny at his cave and had to do the same. I'm staying at his place until tomorrow, when I'll finally confront Jackson, leader of the cult. From him, I hope I can get some answers to Desmond's question, and put an end to all this stupid bullshit.

On an unrelated note, I've began to articulate what I got up to while I was in my impaired state, and added markers for the playhouse and the sinkhole I nearly drowned in on the map. I've also collected up all the loot I've gathered. I didn't pick up anything of note in my stupid days that I didn't somehow remember to mention in the audio logs anyway.

Except a particularly foul smelling shovel that I suspect is for handling fertilizer. I think one of the tribals gave it to me. While I would normally throw it away in disgust the moment I got my intelligence back, it might still make a decent weapon. And the fact that it smells of shit makes it a good candidate for the weapon I will most likely kill Jackson with.

Further entries tomorrow.

I still can't get over the fact I'm black now.

Day 201: Jackson's Cave.

Well... That happened.

Jackson and the tribe are worshipping and taking orders from a hologram of a brain that can only manifest in a cave beneath the cathedral, and he has been ordering them to attack Desmond and the mansion. The tribe are apparently more peaceful than that, usually. This isn't normal behaviour for them. But this brain guy is now here, and they've decided that he's a god.

The hologram brain hasn't given me a name, but he seems to have something against Desmond. They have history, by the sounds of it. Also he said a few times that he doesn't actually have a body anymore. I think he really is just a brain in a jar. Where that jar is and what it's attached to, I have no idea. He might be piloting a robobrain body somewhere, hooked up to a computer, or he could just be on a shelf. I haven't the foggiest.

He's tasked me with killing Desmond and getting rid of some jamming device for him, since the tribe have repeatedly failed to. Obviously, I'm not going to do that. But I will be seeing Desmond about this soon. I want to know who the brain is and what Desmond did to so royally piss him off. And I want to know more about this jamming device too. Against all odds, I appear to have found something truly new here.

And here was me thinking I'd seen it all.

I'm currently sitting inside a wrecked ship I came across while heading south around the coast again. I didn't want to go back through Herzog Mine, and instead decided to come out here and see what the ship was. It's called the USS Ozymandias, and it was commissioned by the Bysshe Company, the same people behind those survey teams I've been finding. Bysshe. Ozymandias. I see what they did there.

The holotapes I found proved helpful, actually. It helped me in unlocking the safes here, which had a few good items. Nothing really special. Chems, radiation suits, stuff like that. Only real interesting find was a few cannisters of biogas, which are flammable. Not really practical as weapons though, and useless for just about anything else. I plan to sell them to Haley next time I see him.

Tonight though, I'm staying in this ship. Not the most comfortable place to be, but I've had worse. I've added map markers for this ship, and for the wrecked seatub I entered Jackson's cave through.

Day 202: An Active Day.

Fucking Christ that was weird.

So I woke up this morning and went directly to Calvert Mansion to see Desmond. He was... surprisingly easy to convince that I was the same person.

He at first thought I was someone different and asked what the fuck I was doing there. So I told him, "I'm back from spying on the tribals. I know I look different, but it's still me. I sort of exploded and changed my appearance. It's a thing I do." And he just sighed, rolled his eyes, and said, "As if the freak with the rainbow coat wasn't bad enough." Then he just continued on about Calvert as if nothing strange had happened.

Calvert, I should explain, is the true identity of the hologram brain. The Calvert family were incredibly powerful before the war. They owned most of Maryland, had senators and governors in their family, and one of them was nearly president. I wouldn't be surprised if there were several prominent Calverts in the Enclave.

This brain is Professor Calvert, and he and Desmond have been enemies for a long time. They've been playing some kind of game over the centuries, and the attack by the tribals when the professor revealed himself marked the point where Desmond gained an advantage at long last.

He had a jammer capable of blocking the telepathic signals, (because telepathy is a real thing, apparently), and he tasked me with putting it up on a ferris wheel for him. On the way there, I got a telepathic message from Calvert, asking me to destroy it instead. I didn't, he got pissed, and then more tribals came after me once I'd finished installing it.

It gets worse though, because then I returned to Calvert Mansion to report back to Desmond, and the whole house blew up. I thought he was dead at first. I nearly died too. Again. But I fortunately managed to find a hidden entrance to a panic room underneath the ruins of the house, which Desmond had crawled into to survive the blast.

Then me and him immediately went to storm the lighthouse, where Desmond figured out that Calvert was hiding. And sure enough, there was a huge laboratory underneath it, with turret defences and robobrain guards. Without my usual weapons, it was difficult to fight past them all, but we did find Calvert at the end of the maze, and he is most certainly dead now.

Desmond is now rooting through the base's computers in search of data on Calvert's research, and he informs me that once he's done here, he'll leave the place to rot and head north to pursue his next rival from the old world. The game still goes on, it's just down a player now. I wish him the best. He's a fucking asshole, but I still hope he wins in the end.

And I've contented myself with cleaning the place out too, though me and Desmond obviously have different ideas of what's valuable. He assures me that what he's looking for won't interest me, and even if he's wrong and it does, I hardly think it'll be anything I can make use of. It's more than likely just information on whoever he's going after next. And while I'm all about fighting tyrants and evil doers, there's only so far I can travel.

Most of what I've collected is weapons. Laser weapons, mostly. Gatling lasers were the biggest finds. Though I did pick up an interesting device called a microwave emitter, which looks a bit like a modified mesmetron. I even found some mesmetron power cells down there, though the microwave emitter doesn't actually use them.

The good thing about it is that microwaves are pretty damn hot, meaning that armoured enemies don't have any real protection against this thing. A guy can be completely bulletproof in his big, spiky metal armour, but since metal conducts heat, this thing will still roast him alive regardless.

In terms of other loot I've found, there was also a few pre-war books. Nothing interesting, but I'm sure the Brotherhood will want them anyway. And Desmond's panic room had a lot of alcohol, weapons, armour, ammunition and a bottle of Quantum too.

I should also mention that I climbed to the top of the lighthouse earlier and searched around in there. The lighthouse is broken, but I found a note written before the war, mentioning that a truck carrying a new lighthouse bulb crashed somewhere around here. I think I know the truck it's talking about. Wonder if the bulb is still there?

I've added the lighthouse to the map and decided to stay here in the lab for tonight. It's probably the cleanest place I've found since coming here, and I don't want to waste the opportunity, especially since we killed all the cleaners here and it won't stay like that now.

Today has been very eventful, and it's about time I got some rest. At least this might mean an end to all the conflict around here.

Day 203: Tourist Days.

Desmond left in the night, so I woke up this morning to find myself alone. I was fine with that though, and soon ventured out to continue my holiday, foolishly hoping that I would now have some peace.

First thing that happened this morning when I left the lighthouse was that I got shot at by one of the Smugglers gang, sniping at me from some little island south of the lighthouse. She didn't hit me though, and I was able to snipe her right back. Dumb bitch.

That Chinese submarine was also nearby. I noticed it yesterday, but was putting off actually going down to blow it up. I don't have a power helmet with me, so that meant either getting cold water inside the suit, or stripping off the power armour to swim down there half naked. Neither prospect was any more appealing when it was nighttime and a lot colder. I did it though, and the sub was destroyed early this morning. Added a map marker for it while I was at it.

Then I had to cross the water again and get back to mainland Point Lookout, so I could continue looking around. I returned to Pilgrim's Landing, selling off everything I didn't need to either Haley or Madame Panada. That means the laser rifles and pistols, the Gatling lasers, the assault rifle, submachine gun, and various other equipment. Also chems.

I returned to the motel and reported back to the terminal in Agent Jiang's room. Turns out the Chinese satellite was still operational, and happy day, it picked up the destruction of the submarine. I was told where in the hotel room I could find a special key and a pair of cryptochromatic spectacles, which are special glasses that allow the user to see colours where they normally wouldn't be able to. Then I was instructed to go to Calvert Mansion.

I was expecting the mansion's destruction to interfere with this little adventure, but fortunately the place I was being directed to was a secret bunker underneath the aviary, rather than beneath or in the mansion itself. So it was unaffected by the blast. The spectacles and solving a puzzle allowed me to soon enter it.

I was guided into a room by a protectron and accessed a terminal, which gave me the message it would have given Agent Jiang if he had succeeded in his mission all those years ago. Turns out the Chinese were planning to betray and kill their agent once he was done, flooding the room with radiation, and only saying that the money he would have received had been wired to his family and that he should accept his death honourably.

Of course, I'm not a Chinese secret agent, so nuts to that. I shut off the radiation using the vent in the floor, and then opened the door up again with some marginally difficult hacking. Was a little frustrated that there was no real reward for my efforts, but to be fair, I didn't start doing this because I was expecting a reward, what with the people supposedly rewarding me being long dead.

I was just curious about what exactly the Chinese were doing here, and I'd say I got my wish there. Still not entirely sure what happened to Agent Jiang, but I think I can guess. Bombs fell, everybody died. Though the presence of this bunker beneath Calvert Mansion does shed a bit more light on Desmond and the professor's conflict. The Calverts could have been communist sympathisers. Wouldn't surprise me.

Though, the bunker and the submarine did turn up some stuff that could be considered my "reward" if I was really stretching it. Two stealth boys, a mini nuke and a gun called the backwater rifle, which is a lever-action rifle but far more powerful. There was a lot of other Chinese weapons in there too. Assault rifles mostly. Picked them up and took them with me as well.

The last thing I did for the day was to return to Nadine and sell her the mini nuke, Chinese weapons and my original lever-action rifle, since the backwater is far better. Then I returned to the motel to bed down for the night. I would have taken her offer to stay the night on the boat with her, but the motel is warmer.

Tomorrow, I'm going to go back to the cathedral and see how the tribals are doing since I killed Calvert.

Day 203 Part 2: Goddamn, I'm dense sometimes.

JUST realised that Nadine was proposing sex. Going back to the Duchess Gambit now.