'Whoa... it's like I'm in an old west show. Farms, a saloon, shops and a desert; it's just as if I'm in the frontier.' As
I was walking to the saloon I first met Victor.
"Howdy partner! Might I say you're looking fit as a fiddle" "Hey... thanks for digging me out of the grave." "Don't
mention it! I'm always ready to lend a helping hand to a stranger that need's it." "How did you know where to
find me?" "Well I was out for a stroll when I heard some fellers talking at the old bone orchard. I was about to say
hello until I saw one of 'em hold a gun so I hid until I heard two gunshots. When they'd run off, I dug you out to see
if you were still kicking. Turns out, you were, so I carried you off to the Doc's place right away." "Do you happen to
know who those men were who attacked me?" "Nope, can't say I know anything about those bandits. Some of
the fine folks in town might be able to help you out with that question." "Alright, well see you later Victor"
"Happy Trails!" Victor continued on and I did as well. Before I entered the saloon I talked with a feller named "Easy
Pete"
"Howdy. What can Easy Pete do for you?"
"Do you know anything of the people who attacked me?"
"I don't know any of 'em but one of 'em was in a fancy suit and he was calling the shots, well that's as much as I know. Other folks might be able to tell you more, word of Advice though: if you ever catch up to the man, you better watch out, the feller's got some cold damn eyes like a goddamn snake. Can't be trusted I'd say."
"You know anything about Victor?"
"Oh! The robot, He's more harmless than an ant, well unlike what Trudy says. She thinks it's hiding something. But I think the thing's just broken; an old relic from the past with nothing left to do but just try and protect the people of Goodsprings."
"Why are you called Easy Pete?"
"Was a prospector in my youth until I decided to settle here in the Mojave to get away from the NCR and its
conflicts, now I just take it easy and help out with herding the Brahmin and Bighorners and try to help out the town
as much as I can and I'll continue helpin' until my last dyin' breath."
"What's wrong with the NCR?"
"Now don't get me wrong - the NCR's got many decent folks in it. It's just that they make you part of them whether you like it or not. Towns like Goodsprings and Primm don't stay independent for long; if the NCR wants something you have they'll take it from you either by using diplomacy or force. But the NCR keeps the Legion away. That's one of few things to love of 'em"
"Who's Caesar, and what's the Legion?"
"Well they're a slaver empire led by a man called Caesar (Kye–sar) or Caesar (See–sar). Not sure how you're supposed to say it but I don't give a rat's ass about it." 'Slavers... I hate slavers' A face of anger appeared on William's face "- I see you're angry on the Legion, what'd they do to you? Pillaged your village and imprisoned your family and forced you to become one of 'em?"
"It's not that... It's just that I hate slavers, even the kinder ones."
"- Well they tried to take Hoover Dam from the NCR but they pushed them back in Boulder City though the Legion's licking it's wounds and amassing a whole army on the eastern side of the Colorado. If you want to stay out of trouble, stay on the west of the Colorado. Unless you want to become a slave that is."
"What's so important about Hoover Dam anyway?"
"Well the whole damn thing powers nearly all of New Vegas and its casinos and all that clean water that comes from Lake Meade is one worth dying for. Anyone who controls it owns the Mojave."
"You said you were a prospector. Like someone who digs for gold?"
"No, no. Nothing of the sorts, I was hired by the NCR to look through old buildings to look for working pre-war tech but some people call it "salvaging," never liked the term though."
"Looking for technology is kind of like salvaging."
"Well you're not wrong there but the way I see it is that salvage means it's broken and goddamn useless. Well... I
looked for the good stuff – guns, chems, and spare parts. Good money in it."
"Did you ever find anything good from your 'prospecting'?"
"Nope, nothing but regular items like guns and chems... had one time where I hit a small jackpot but had to run off because of some raiders out over in east of the river. Eventually I got too old for the job and here I am."
"Oh! Well I'll see you later Easy."
"Remember keep your gun loaded at all times when prospecting in the abandoned areas like the schoolhouse in town. Lots of dangerous critters in those parts and more come from the north."
Prospector Saloon
I walked inside the prospector and it looked as normal as a saloon alright. Then a dog barked at me. "Cheyenne
stay. Don't worry; she won't bite unless I tell her to." "Doc Mitchell said you could help me learn how to fend for
myself." "Yeah, I guess there's a thing or two I could teach you. You'll need all the help you can get after what's
happened to you. Meet me outside, behind the Saloon." Sunny walked out of the saloon but before I followed I
looked around the saloon and after fiddling with the jukebox in the saloon, I walked outside the saloon and met
Sunny behind the it. "Now, see those sarsaparilla bottles on the fence there? Take this and try to hit a couple
of 'em." She gave me a rifle called a "varmint rifle" and 50 5.56mm rounds. "Don't expect a lot from me I may
miss some shots." "Don't worry I'm here to help you relearn your skills." 'Alright just breathe and aim down the
sight and... fire." "You're getting the right idea. Look down the sight." I aimed and shot at the bottles and one by
one the bottles broke and fell from the fence. "You're a natural at this. Never seen a man shoot that fast."
"Well that's a start but I don't think you came to me to just shoot at sarsaparilla bottles. Tell you what I gotta chase
down some geckos away from our water supply anyway. Darn things are attracted to it, why don't you come
with?" "Yeah I got the time" "It's just southeast of here, a short ways." For a minute or two me and Sunny walked south
behind a large rock where we were hidden from the "geckos."
Goodsprings Water Wells
"Hear that up on the ridge behind me? We got some geckos to clear out. Bunch of little demons is what they are. Seems like Doc Mitchell treats more bites from them geckos than anything else, let's stay hidden and when we're close enough we shoot 'em till their dead."
"Well let's getter goin" Sunny told Cheyenne to keep quiet while me and her snuck up to the geckos. "Okay we're
close enough. Go give 'em hell." There were at least 5 or 7 geckos at the first well it took at least 1 or 2 bullets
each to the head to kill 'em. "See you're getting the hang of it! There's still two more wells up ahead if you come
along I'll give you some caps in return." "Sure I'll come along." "Shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes and
here's some more ammo for the geckos." She gave me 75 5.56mm rounds.
We continued on to the second well and a sort of ambush came where 2 geckos ran at me but I killed 'em before
they had a chance to even scratch me. "You're getting good!" "It's because of you, Sunny."
"Help someone! Somebody please HELP!"
A woman was being attacked by a gecko and as fast as I could I shot the gecko at least 5 times in the back. "Thank you! I'm sorry but I don't have anything to repay you." "It's alright miss you can head back to Goodsprings while we take it from here." "Thank you!"
"Wow... what a sweet talker. Where'd you learn how to talk like that?" Sunny was surprised I was one of the few people who was kind.
"I don't know where but I do know when. It was way back before I was shot but that's it all my memories are gone." "Well here's your reward for helping me with the geckos and here's a bonus for helping that lady." Sunny gave me 50 caps for helping with the geckos while giving 30 more for saving that woman. "Thought I might teach you how to live of off the land, and making useful things for yourself. Interested?" "I'll give it a shot."
"Alright then, we'll need a couple of ingredients to get started. Find some Xander Root and a Broc Flower." 'What the hell are those?' "- Lemme think now... I know I've seen Broc Flowers growing at the graveyard. And over at the schoolhouse you could find the Xander Root. Bring those back and we'll start cooking." "Before I go find the root and flower thing, what the heck are even we making?" "Well what we're going to make is something called "Healing Powder" as what people call it."
Goodsprings Schoolhouse
I first went to the schoolhouse to acquire the "Xander" root and just in front of the building were gigantic mantises! They're as tough as the geckos but were harder to hit since they were thinner and smaller but it took at least 1 shot from the varmint rifle. The Xander root was just growing in front of the building and grabbed at least 3 but I headed inside to see if there was anything of interest and there were at least 5-7 more giant mantises inside but I killed them with ease. There were lockers and in some of them were junk like empty sunset sarsaparilla bottles, wonderglue, tin cans and scrap metal but there was a safe and a terminal that could disengage the lock of the safe.
'Alright just gotta find that passcode or try to guess it in 4 tries... I hope I get it." Is it school? *BEEP* nope, is it teacher... *BEEP* "Goddamn it!" Should be student right? *BEEP* last try! Education... ... ... *PLEASE WAIT WHILE SYSTEM IS ACCESSED* "YES!" Inside the safe was a 9mm pistol, 17 9mm rounds, 5 empty 9mm cases, a mentat, a few caps, a thing called a "Stealth Boy" and a 'Super' Stimpak, I examined the 'Super' stimpak and from what I learned it healed more severe wounds but had defects to strength and agility. Next to the terminal I also found a programmer magazine called "Programmer's Digest" if I had the time to read it I think I could learn a thing or two. I continued scouring the place and found 4 bobby pins but that was it. Next up was the graveyard/Old Bone Orchard.
Old Bone Orchard
I went out of the schoolhouse and northeast where the graveyard was located, took me at least a few minutes to get there. Once I got there I found myself fighting some large flies if I could recall these things are called "Bloatflies" or a "Bloatfly" these weren't the toughest of enemies on par with the mantises. I found my former grave...
{Flashback}
"Time to cash out" "But we can..." "Maybe Khans kill without looking 'em in the face but I ain't a think... dig? You've made your last delivery kid. Sorry you got twisted in this scene." The guy pulled out a 9mm. "From where you're at, it must look like an 18karat run a bad luck. Truth is... the game was rigged from the start.' *BANG* *BANG*
{Present}
'Who was he? Son of a bitch shot me twice!' The pain that was coming from that memory felt like being shot all over again but it subsided after a few moments. I continued with my search for a Broc flower and next to a small tree was a Broc flower and I remember I only needed one right? Well to be sure I'll get two.
Campfire near Water Wells
I walked to a campfire where Sunny was. "Let me see what you got. Yeah, these'll do just fine, just fine~ All right now. We're gonna make the Healing Powder. Go on over to the campfire and give it a shot." I used one of each of the ingredients and made healing powder. "You're not bad at cooking either! All it takes to cook is to have enough ingredients and enough know-how. Sometimes you might not need food but ammo and weapons. Important thing to remember is that it's almost identical. You just need to find the right place to do it. Workbench or... a reloading bench or whatever; well I hope that taught you enough but I'll be heading back to the Prospector, hope I didn't miss anything good on the jukebox. Cheyenne would kill me." "Well bye!" "Oh! I almost forgot. Do me a little favor. Trudy – she's the bartender up over in the Prospector, kind of like the town mom. Likes to meet all the newcomers, she'd be boiling if I didn't tell you to talk with her and say hi." "Alright I'll go and meet her."
Prospector Saloon
Sunny and I walked to the Prospector; Sunny and Cheyenne were at the jukebox listening to the music. I went on to meet Trudy but just before that a guy was talkin' with her. "I'm done playin' good cop. If you don't hand Ringo over to me soon, I'll bring over all of my friends and we'll burn this town to the ground! TO THE FUCKING GROUND! GOT IT!" "We'll keep that in mind. Now, if you're not going to buy something then get the hell out of MY saloon! DO you GOT that?!" The guy bumped into me "What the hell's your problem!" 'Excuse you?'