vault66 | First Annual Pod Day

WHO: Everyone
WHERE: Vault 66
WHEN: ???? - Day 1
WHAT: The first pods open
WARNINGS:TBD

AWAKENING

You awake laying on your back in an, admittedly comfortable, pod. You can't move anything but your eyes, can't even feel your body yet. How you got here or why is a blank. You may have been in the middle of your day, asleep, or even- for what you remember- should be dead. Then a screen directly in front of your face flickers to life and in crisp, black and white displays: DON'T PANIC. The following video then plays:

Watch on YouTube

The screen flickers again and reads: CONGRATULATIONS ON PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE! WELCOME TO VAULT LIFE, CITIZEN. WELCOME TO YEAR: [ERROR]. YOUR PERSONAL BELONGINGS ARE LOCATED IN [FILE CORRUPTED. SEE SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR]. ENJOY YOUR STAY AND THANK YOU FROM YOUR FRIENDS AT VAULT-TEC.

The pod then unseals and you are able to, unstably at first, climb out of the pod. Your body may feel foreign for a moment- perhaps entirely foreign if you suddenly find yourself a human, ghoul, or super mutant for the first time. But whatever your form, you have two items on: a bright blue jumpsuit with the number 66 in yellow on the back, and a mechanical device known as a Pip-boy sealed onto your arm. If you click on the buttons it takes you to an instruction screen.

You look around to find yourself in a room of other pods. Some are just opening, other people looking as confused as you climbing out. Others remain closed with the status of 'STASIS' on the screens attached to the pods. The rest of the room is less than impressive. Computer systems that seem out of place compared to the technology level of the pods are scattered across the room, apparently running the chambers. Trying to access them, even for the most talented hacker, will simply result in SEE OVERSEER being displayed. There is large metal door leading to the rest of the vault, a lever on the wall next to it that will cause it to open.

Welcome, dweller, to vault 66.

RAD ROACH RIOT

Outside of the pod room, the rest of the vault is limping along on an emergency power supply. The air is stale from lackluster recycling and deep shadows occupy the corners of rooms and edges of hallways as only the pale maintenance lighting flickers from the ceiling. The pip-boy flashlight helps, but can still only light up a small area, casting anything outside of it into even darker shadows.

In those shadows there is skittering. The noise isn't too noticeable when there are groups of people, but get down to one or two and it's impossible to ignore. Venture into an empty room and you’ll spot a small number, maybe even just one, loitering in what, until today, had more or less been their sole domain: radroaches. Giant, mutated cockroaches that have a hunger for fresh food (like say, new vault dwellers) when it’s available.

The majority of roaches, however, seem to have a destination in mind, mostly ignoring characters unless blocked or directly bothered. This hoard, gathering from all over the vault, all move through the shadows and vents to the kitchen. If a character is unthreatening enough, they can follow the trail unmolested by the creatures.

In the kitchen itself is a whole different matter. Even from down the hall, characters can hear a masculine, slightly French-accented voice exclaim:

“Mais! Get out, out you nasty things!”

After a moment, a burst of flame can be seen through the door, followed by the new yet distinctive sound of mandibles ripping at metal. Those that decide to enter will see over a dozen roaches trying to take down a lone, floating robot. Despite the robot occasionally hitting them with a blast of fire from a small flame-throwing on one of its arms, the roaches appear to be winning.

The source of the fight can be seen behind the robot: a counter full of various kinds of packaged foods, some of them newly opened. One roach has managed to make it to the prize, ripping into a things of what seems to be apples with its mandibles.

GENERAL EXPLORING

Whether you help with the Battle of the Kitchen or not, the rest of the vault awaits. This includes two other robots floating around the medical wing and water/air control systems, as well as more radroaches wandering around the many corpses/blood splatter patterns to be discovered and potentially cleaned up.

OOC NOTES

To talk to a specific NPC one-on-one, leave a comment on their thread below. Note an exception is Louis in Radroach Riot, he will pop up on his own in threads related to him.

Looking for loot in a specific area? Looking for a specific item/kinds of item in general? Ask here and we’ll let you know.

If you have any OOC questions, please leave a comment here!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Charlotte is the designated medical Mr. Handy. She can provide basic first aid, but it may not be wise to trust her with more advanced tasks like surgery or setting bones (she has a rotating saw for one of her hands, to clarify. So amputations she's all for.). Charlotte, however, has full confidence in her abilities and will cheerfully and enthusiastically try to convince residence to let her give pretty much anything the old college try. She can get sentimental about repeat patients and may end up checking in on some of her favorites at night. With or without permission. She can be found in the medical wing.

Elizabeth finds supplies in the medical wing but she recognizes none of the syringes or names on bottles. No information to be read about them. There are two options. Inject syringes into a captured robot to monitor the results (like what was done to her time and again) or ask the robot floating around. Or both.

Given how little she trusts the vault, she may go with both options to be safe. She finds the robot in the medical wing with a saw for a hand. These robots seem to talk unlike the robotic creations living in both Colombia and Rapture. She approaches with caution because again: saw for a hand.

"Can you help me?"

"Of course, darling!"

That saw starts spinning with delight as Charlotte turns her optic sensors away from the corner of the medical wing she was 'tidying' (moving junk from one side of a desk to another) and towards Elizabeth. For some reason, the robot speaks with a heavy southern accent.

"What's the problem? Headaches, foot pains?" She lowers her voice slightly, sympathy dripping from the next words, "lady troubles?"

Elizabeth winces at the sound of the saw. It reminds her of the sound of the drill from the machines beneath rapture. It's the cause of her second to last death. She is already regretting asking except it's fascinating too. She's never seen a robot like this one. Songbird couldn't manage words. He protected more like an animal bonded to her than with any form of intelligence. This one has words. It has a personality as awkward and strange as the personality might be.

"I'm afraid it's nothing like that. Sorry to disappoint." She lifts up a hand and then picks up a syringe with red liquid in it. "I found these syringes and bottles. Do you know what they do?"

Charlotte looks, as much as a floating three-eyed robot can, devastated at the news. But she rallies the best she can, even if the saw arm remains droopy.

"Medication, hun. You don't need all that if you're in tip-top health. Unless there's something else the matter? I've got an x-ray machine right over here."

Elizabeth should have known it wouldn't be so easy. She doesn't know if she can trust any answers she received but she hoped for answers at least. Her hand remains on the syringe with the sharp point at its end. There's a child in the vault. If she is hurt, Elizabeth will need to know what they have to heal her.

"But what does this specifically do? Would I need it for pain? Would I need it to prevent infection? If I was bleeding from a deep wound, what would you do?"

She is hoping the robot doesn't mention the saw.

A deep, highly dramatic sigh is the only reply at first as Charlotte sadly hovers back over to resume her 'organizing' of dulled equipment and clipboards.

"It's a stimpak, dear. It stimulates your body's regenerative abilities."

Elizabeth straightens at the straightforward answer that leaves the robot.

"Thank you. You're already helping before a problem's even arisen," she says in an attempt to reassure. She doesn't know if these robots can be reassured. Songbird would be reassured with her promises to go back to the Tower or to be protected by it. "What about this one? The clear liquid?"

"You sure you don't just want to leave all that for the professionals, hun? I'm here to take care of y'all. No need to be injecting med-x on your lonesome."

After all this undefined time without humans, can a robot be blamed for trying?

Elizabeth has enough medical knowledge to bring Booker back to life multiple times by dressing his wounds, giving him CPR, preventing bleeding, and using a basic first aid kit. She knows surgery would be outside of her wheelhouse. These medications would be too. She is aware she might actually need to rely on Charlotte using these apparent medical skills she has which is frightening given the saw. Elizabeth has experienced an almost lobotomy. She does not need to add the experience of being sawed into.

"Don't you have to tell a patient what you're doing to them before you do it if they're conscious?" Can robots be charmed? She doesn't know but she's going to try. Charlotte wants to help. Elizabeth will try to play on that. "I only want to know what your talented, professional skills would be helping with if you used this med-x on me."

Charlotte turns to look at Elizabeth again and opens and closes her sensors in genuine confusion. Then the charm comes. and she hovers a little higher.

Yes. Robots can be charmed.

"Now why'd I want to go and scare 'em like that, filling heads with silly details? But, well. Since you put it like that, med-x just takes away the pain. Careful, though, you humans can get a terrible addiction to the stuff. Better leave it to me."

Elizabeth finds some relief to sense the shift in Charlotte. Charm is something Elizabeth can do. She eased Songbirds worries with a song and with agreeing to his sole purpose. Returning her to a her tower. It's not what happened to her in the end, but it kept Songbird from killing Booker (if only so she could kill him later herself).

"It's good to know. No one would want an addiction. Thank you for telling me. Now I know better than to take it on my own without your medical expertise." She sets the vial down and lifts up the last set of bottles. "We only have the bottles of pills left. Can you get addicted to them too?"

"Everything but the cateye. 'Less you take a mighty fancy to seeing in the dark all the time."

It's not really a joke, but she laughs at it anyway. Humans and their silly ways.

First Annual Pod Day

CHARLOTTE

DAY NUMBER 3 AFTER POD OPENING

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