MONTH 2 LOG

[nolandmod]

WHO: Everyone
WHERE: Vault 66
WHEN: ???? – Day 1, Month 2
WHAT: The second wave of pods open
WARNINGS:Reference to suicide, 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.

 

THE VAULT EXPANDED

In the month following the first pods opening, Jiro and Elizabeth DeWitt enlisted the help of the Mr. Handy ‘Louis’ the clear the debris and create a stable passageway to the rest of the testing area. Slightly smaller than the rest of the hallway, there is still plenty of room for people to move in and out of the area without discomfort.



This portion of the vault, if possible, is even dirtier and more decrepit than the rest, having been cut off from even the most basic maintenance for an untold period of time. The emergency lighting has been cut off to this area, leaving the whole zone in the dark besides what little light comes through the newly formed passage.

Those willing to venture into the area will find this isolation has allowed a handful of more intimidating creatures than radroaches to establish a home (though there are still roaches, just fewer than are found in the rest of the vault). Several breaches in the metal walls along the hallways open into small tunnels, which the occasional mole rat will venture out of. Though usually only appearing alone or in pairs, these creatures are even hungrier for fresh meat than the radroaches and will attack with their huge, sharp, pointy teeth. If killed, they could supply a decent (if slightly irradiated) source of meat for a while, along with hide to make more reinforced clothing. But taking one down without proper weapons will likely require some teamwork.

There are several important (and often concerning) areas to find in this zone. First are two firmly sealed doors, one at the upper corner of the new area and one at the lower middle. Each door has a very helpful (currently unlit) sign over it: ENTRANCE and OVERSEER, respectively. Next to each is another of the computer terminals characters have grown used to seeing around the vault.

Next are Testing Areas 1, 2, and 3. Each of these testing areas has an observation room with a smaller containment chamber attached to it. The doors to the observation areas can be pulled open with enough effort, allowing entrance to the small room filled with chemistry glassware, lockers, and tables covered in long since rotten scraps of paper and books. The doors to the containment chambers, for the moment, remain sealed shut with yet more computer terminals next to them. These doors look weaker than the ones sealing off the entrance and overseer area, and can possibly be broken down with time and effort. But characters will want to think long and hard before doing that. Each observation room has a bullet proof, reinforced one-way window that allows characters to look into the containment chamber without whatever is in the chamber being able to see them. And the chambers are occupied.

Testing Chamber 1 (WARNING: SUICIDE) contains the corpse of a super mutant splayed on the ground. The walls around it are dented, and its head caked in long dried blood. Anyone with passing medical knowledge can observe the super mutant apparently killed itself through repeated blunt force trauma, banging its own head against the walls and door until death.

Approaching Testing Chamber 2 causes character’s pip-boys to start crackling a warning of increased radiation. Standing in the observation chamber the levels are low enough that it isn’t healthy, but no one is going to die without prolonged exposure. The source of the radiation is clear, inside the chamber is a corroded barrel of radioactive waste. Along with it, a grotesque creature that is very clearly alive, moving around and around its small, enclosed space.

Testing Chamber 3 also crackles with radiation, though the source of this isn’t a barrel. Rather, a walking, emaciated corpse shambles about the containment chamber. Other than the walking corpse bit, there’s two characteristics which stand out: the corpse is glowing an eerie yellow-green with an inner light that pulses as it walks and it’s wearing the torn remains of what is very clearly the same blue and yellow jumpsuit all characters arrived in.

GENERAL EXPLORING

Whether you venture into the new area of the vault or not, the rest of the vault awaits. This includes the three Mr. Handy’s floating around, as well as more radroaches wandering around the many corpses/blood splatter patterns.

OOC NOTES

To talk to a specific NPC one-on-one, leave a comment on their thread below.

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!

Comments

NPCS

[nolandmod]

LOUIS

[nolandmod]

Louis is the cook/rec room Mr. Handy, there to help you acclimate to your new domestic skill set. He will assist in anything from food prep, to recipe ideas, to how to sew to repair your clothing. Louis is pleased to be helpful, but a little shy. He will also harbor slights and insults for a long time, so if you don't want burnt coffee for the rest of your vault stay, show a little courtesy. He can be found in the rec area.

CHARLOTTE

[nolandmod]

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.

NICK

[nolandmod]

Nick is the repair Mr. Handy. The state of the vault may give you a glimpse into how dedicated Nick has been about his job. While he's more than happy to shoot the shit, when things need to be fixed he always has some reason why it can't be done right now. Need a new part. Or his optical input needs adjusting. There's a thousand reasons. It takes a strong hand to get Nick to do much of anything, much to the annoyance of the other Mr. Handy's in the vault. He can be mostly found in the reactor level, not that it does much good.

SEARCH SKILL

[nolandmod]

Looking for loot in a specific area? Looking for a specific item/kinds of item in general?

[makeadragonwannaretire]

Day one Azula is going to start looking for weapons. She has a preference for melee but at this point she's desperate.

She'll mostly be looking around the Living Quarters since it seems safer.

She is also prioritizing matches or anything she can use to make and keep fire like candles.

[justoutrunyou]

Once Sandy gets deep enough into the new area she wants to check out those lockers in the Observation Rooms for anything useful or interesting.

[loveyoudarling]

Chocolat is going to spend her time investing herself in the books within test chamber one to see if any useful information in in them. And knowing her, she's just stupid enough to ignore the pip boys warning and try to take on the creature in test chamber 2 with the spare electric wire, scrap metal pipe, and knives that she previously found. (Most likely with someone else depending on the starter turnaround) So if she succeeds she may end up looking around in there a bit.

[wildguardian]

Yunlan will be looking for tools, especially tools for repairing electronics, in the reactor level and the testing level.

He's also going to search the room where Nick mentioned hiding the "good stims" to see if he can find anything that looks like it matches that description!

[loveyoudarling]

It was inevitable. But Chocolat and Jiro are finally going to search that little bar area in the Rec Hall to see if there is anything of interest (primarily old booze).

[wildguardian]

► awakening

Zhao Yunlan opens his eyes on darkness. For a moment, he holds utterly still, mind racing as he feels down every nerve, searches for memory that could explain: nothing is burning. Nothing hurts. His last memory is still the flame of the Guardian Lantern, igniting as the world fell away in pain, and now he's... here.

A tinny recording jolts him out of the pit that those memories threaten to become, and he stares at it.

"Okay," he mutters to himself, as a puff of stale air washes over him and dim hazard lighting brightens through the cracks in a shell. He's in a shell.

He trips over the edge of it on the way out, but manages to avoid cracking his head on an ancient green-letter computer display. One point to the (Vault?) technology, one point Zhao Yunlan. He can already tell he's going to need to hoard those points.

A few of the other egg-pods around the room are shivering and cracking open. Yunlan brightens, plants his hands on his own pod and hoists himself back up to sit on the edge. It's a bit too high for a chair, and his feet swing childishly above the ground for a moment before he props one on a strut and slouches back into a proper sprawl.

Works better on a couch, but a man only gets one chance to make a first impression.

"Hey there," he calls. "Welcome to the waking world!"

And-- a few of the other pods are already open. His brain must have frostbite. He ruins his careful sprawl by jolting upright and turns to look around the room for the others. No telling if they're friendly or not, no telling whether they expect to be here or are just as lost as he is, but he really doesn't like not knowing where they are.

► exploration (1 - reactor)

The crackle of his wrist Geiger counter is ticking up, slowly, as he passes a monumental slab of air-exchange equipment. From the hollow roar it's giving off, something in it must still be working. Backup power, right. Lights, air, water: that's what he'd prioritize in an emergency.

Stasis chambers too, apparently. Not that everyone was in those. There's a twisted skeleton, shreds of long-decayed cloth sticking to the brown bone, tucked back among the machinery to his left. It's barely visible in the emergency lighting.

Yunlan takes a deep breath, and taps the flashlight button on his wrist monitor. The beam's going to draw those cockroach things, if there are any down here, but at least with it on he won't walk into them.

Something shifts behind him -- settling? A footstep? Wildlife? One of those octopus robots? -- and he whips around, flashlight sweeping through the dimly-lit corridor.

He probably should've brought a pool cue.

► exploration (2 - testing, East Wing)

This time, Yunlan has sensibly armed himself with one of the bloodied pool cues from the rec room. He'll replace it, he tells himself, especially if it gets damaged -- but it's not a completely terrible substitute for a nightstick. Weighted towards the butt, solid: yeah. It'll do.

He doesn't have Dixing night vision -- he stamps down on the flash of pain that thought brings (Shen Wei, gone forever) and moves on. No better night vision than your average nearly-thirty-year-old modern man, so he's forced to rely on the flashlight. It doesn't show any signs of running down, at least, and his frequent nervous glances down at his Geiger counter dial show the radiation up here's not in dangerous ranges. Yet.

The movement to his left doesn't make a noise at all. He swings around: too low to the ground for a human, too bulky for a giant roach, it's --

-- A mutant naked rat? Its teeth are huge, and bared in a gape as it lunges for his leg, and he changes the spin into a full roundhouse kick that catches it in the side. Its head swings around with terrible speed to send those teeth scraping over his boot, leaving a long scar in the leather as it goes flying.

It's heavy. Yunlan's shin aches from impact. He drops into a crouch, feral smile unfurling as he weighs his pool-cue club.

"C'mere, rat," he invites aloud. It gets up, shaking off the blow with an ear-rattling shiver, and bares its teeth again.

"Your timing is shit," he adds, and begins circling to the left, watching the rat watching him. "You have no idea how much I need an ass I can kick today--"

New discovery: naked mutant rats can jump.

exploration (1 - reactor)

[cicadashell]

"Fuck!"

Yunlan manages to flash the light right in Jiro's eyes. There's a clattering noise as he drops a pile of bones to try and shield himself from the light. He's in a constant state of irritation anyway, and he growls in annoyance. Once he gets a look at Yunlan, he pauses in his retrival of the bones.

"You're new."

Awakening

[justoutrunyou]

Sandy had been idly wandering around the areas of the vault she'd already explored when she heard something new...something unexpected. Sounds from the pod room!

Rushing down the hall and peering around she spotted someone attempting to look casual? Maybe she was just not getting it but she had to give the guy credit. When she had just woken up she was on the verge of tears for at least half an hour.

She waved quietly to see if he would notice and then entered the room slowly clad in a tattered sea green summer dress with some novice repair stitches and a mismatched fedora.

"Sup?"

[cicadashell]

I. Testing Area

a. mole rat tunnels [closed to Sandy]

[The hallways past the former cave-in are in even worse shape than the rest of the vault. It's something Jiro didn't expect, thinking it's been sealed off so it should be less disgusting and more preserved. He shines the PipBoy flashlight at a small opening in the side of corridor. A distant squeaking noise sounds from within. He turns to Sandy, jerking his thumb at the hole.]

You wanna use these stupid things to chat, you can go in there and tell me what you see.

[He will admit that the PipBoy may be a little useful at this point.]


b. testing chamber 3

Holy shit.

[A glowing half-skeleton. How long has it been down here; long enough for the cave-in and the place to go into disrepair. The Geiger counter's already making noise, but Jiro taps on the glass anyway, wondering if the... thing can hear it. If it's actually alive in the sentient sense and not just some mindless zombie scenario.]


c. entrance

[Jiro doesn't know what he's doing, but this is clearly the way out. He examines the door for any signs of easy opening, but it's going to be a problem.]

Think we can get mole rats to chew through it?

[They ate the walls, so why not?]


II. Wildcard
/ Anything goes, or plot on plurk/discord.

a

[justoutrunyou]

[Sandy had come along eager to explore and see what else could be found in the Vault, armed with a sharpened pool cue and wearing one of the hats she had mended with Louis. She thought it made her look a little cooler then just being hatless.

It was just a shame that Jiro's attitude was impossible to ignore.]

Yeah alright. If you hear screaming avenge me.

[She tapped on her own light and started inching her way down the tunnel, fairly sure he would do no such thing. She wasn't even sure he didn't hate her and this was just some way to get rid of her.

It was filthy. That was the first thing that jumped out at Sandy in the darkness as she scanned back and forth with her light trying to find a light switch or something of the sort.]

We're gonna need more cleaning supplies.

[pride_outbreak]

Arrival:

Continued from here

Dorms:

Saya made her way towards the place that would be their sleeping quarters and she was trying her best to not be upset, frustrated or ill all at once. "Okay... You could be dead. You could be undead... This is fine... Oh damnit who am I kidding this is so gross!" she groaned in frustration before sighing and moving towards the closest terminal that was unoccupied.

"This is so bizarre... How can this place have some complicated, sci-fi level tech and then this... this 70's to 80's pc? I don't get what the hell is going on but I intend to find out." And so she began tapping away at the keys in order to try and figure out as much as she could about this place.

Catchall/OTA:

Saya will be wandering the areas which have been deemed 'safe'. Feel free to bump into her at any time!

Dorms

[justoutrunyou]

Sandy had heard there were new people waking up from the pods but in her enthusiasm to see if anyone she knew had arrived, she'd missed Saya initially.

Walking past her room and hearing the clicking of keyboard keys Sandy pauses long enough to peer into the room and watch her work for a minute.

"Are you like...good with computers? Like a hacker or something?"

[wildguardian]

You could be dead -- Yunlan glances up at that mutter nearby, focusing on the girl who's tapping at the terminal.

"Hey there," he calls out to her, injecting a note of cheer into his voice. "You don't look undead to me, unless you're getting the urge to start chowing down on brains.

"Any particular reason those are the choices, kiddo?"

Catchall

[cicadashell]

Saya is unfamiliar, so Jiro will approach her in one of the halls with a task. He has a couple pool cues in hand, and a bowl full of apple cores.

"Hey, new girl! I got a job for you!"

dorms; lmk if you prefer prose and i'll switch it up!

[torsion]

[ Jill still wasn't thrilled by the dormitories, but it beat nothing. It likely wasn't any more or less sanitary than anywhere else here, unfortunately, but they had to make due with what was offered to them for now. Clean sheets and blankets would be incredible, but she won't push her luck on hoping for more than what they've already been given. Mostly, being trapped is what bothers her the most.

Someone has to be watching them. That's really the only thing Jill can safely say.

She keeps her eyes on the young woman that's entered the area, only approaching after she talks. Whether it was to herself or Jill, it didn't matter. It was a perfectly good reason to strike up a conversation and see where things would go. ]

Well, if you can figure things out, by all means, do. Just remember to share with your fellow captives.

[makeadragonwannaretire]

[Arrival]

[ As you try to find your bearings and recover from the disorienting process of waking up in a pod, you may notice some of your fellow Vault Dwellers aren't handling this as well as the others.

One in particular being a pale, dark haired girl who has backed herself up against a wall and is looking at you all with suspicion and murderous intent in her eyes.

The last thing Azula remembered was running off into the forest after her mother...

Clamping her eyes closed she pressed a palm to her head to try and quell a growing headache. She had to focus...had to put that woman and her deception out of her head. Whatever nightmare she'd just woken up into needed her full attention.

Do you dare to approach the girl as she grumbles to herself? Be careful those nails look sharp.]

___________________________________________

[Living Quarters]

After being calmed down (more or less) and accepting that she was stuck in a miserable situation, Azula set to exploring. The living quarters seemed slightly less disgusting so she took her time lingering here.

She can be found starring curiously at things like the Food Processor or the Juke Box. Her eyes dart sharply this way and that even when she appears to be calm as if she expects any moment now someone might jump out at her and try to hurt her.

She is especially suspicious of the robots when she sees them doing her best to keep her distance and never taking her eyes off them for more then a minute.

If she's honest? She's still not doing so well.

arrival!

[wildguardian]

Those nails do look sharp, and their owner looks like she's not handling this situation well at all. Zhao Yunlan's feeling a touch shaky himself, but there's no better cure for existential dread and horror than finding someone else's problems to worry about.

Guaranteed fix. Getting his eyes clawed out would also take his mind off of his problems, but he's tried temporary blindness and has absolutely zero desire to give the permanent variety a shot. He stops outside of lashing-out range, and clears his throat, trying for a gentle tone.

"Hey. You just woke up here, right? Hell of a situation. I'm Zhao Yunlan -- what's your name?"

Living Quarters

[cicadashell]

"'Sup?"

He reaches past Azula to steal the food processor, not paying attention any signs of inner panic or suspicion.

[loveyoudarling]

I. Rummaging Around For Knowledge

It had been about a half a day since the hall had been fully cleared and the rest of the testing level had been revealed to them. And while most of the others had already had their fair share of exploring about, it was only later that Chocolat had found herself joining them. Of course, by this point, most of the areas that people would dare to access had already been searched and pillaged. But regardless she found herself exploring the empty halls and desolate rooms.

Which was exactly why she now found herself seated within the darkness of Test Chamber 1, sitting at one of the tables. Her eyes squinted as she hunched, quite surprisingly, over a book. Her flashlight held steadily as she tried to process the words that she had been reading. But the furrow between her brows was obvious, and her stress seemed to be projecting over the entirety of her body language.

"Ung, hopeless," And with that her shoulders went slack, taking a moment to break away from her reading in order to rub at her eyes a little and lean back on the old stool she was sitting on. "This isn't even English. How is any of this supposed to make sense?"

II. This Is Normal Only For Her And No One Else (TW: For causal Nudity; As Only Chocolat Do.)

It had now been nearly a month since most of them had awoken within the confines of the vault. And besides watching a couple of the others struggle around trying to form some form of domesticated giant roach colony, nothing of interest had really happened. And Chocolat was bored.

So why not liven things up a notch?

It was actually a bit of an accident really. An agitated kick that was urged on by a built up well of said boredom and frustration that happened to direct itself towards the jukebox in the middle of the rec room, causing it the suddenly spring to life and loudly burst out an ill-fittingly cheerful tune.

Startled, she jumped back with a yelp. Only to quickly crawl up to the machine with wide-eyed curiosity. Pressing her ear to the contraption as, slowly, her shoulders an hips begin to wiggle a little to the tune.

The next thing she knew she was up and dancing about. She seemed absolutely enthralled with the change of atmosphere that the music had given.

... Perhaps a little too enthralled.

For as she found herself twirling, did she pull down at the confining zipper of her jumpsuit. Sighing out as she tilted back at the climax to one of the songs, freeing her upper half completely from her clothes before giggling out and twirling around in the middle of the hall. Even as others came in she didn't really seem to care, instead calling them over playfully to join along.

"Oh, hey there! Come on, don't just stand around cheering me on. Come on over and dance with me! ♥"

III. A Weapon For A Weapon (Closed to Sandy)

It had been a day after the middle floors opening when Chocolat had found herself casually chilling within the female dorm. It had still been pretty early in the day, or at least that was what the clock on her Pip-Boy had told her. It was actually rather difficult to gage time when trapped in an underground vault that had no windows or lighting. But the clock said it was morning so thus it had to be.

She had just been making her way towards the rec room to grab something to eat when she happened to notice that one of the other doors had been left open. So it was only natural that she couldn't help but look in, right? ...Right!?

Well, anyway, it was as she found herself creeping closer (and internally waking up a little more) that she suddenly remembered all too well who's room this was.

"What's this? I didn't expect you to be the type to start hording weapons. Are you preparing for something?"

Really, was that a gun? How old were you again Sandy?

IV. Nuclear Radiation? Never Heard of It. (Group Thread Closed To Azula & Yunlan)

It had been quite a few days now, and things were once more starting to become monotonous. Sure the new space had been interesting for a while, but eventually everything ended up just going back to the same old day-in-day-out activities, add a few new people.

But that didn't stop Chocolat's curiosity when if came to certain area's of the middle level. More specifically the areas that most people avoided with good reason.

The Pip-Boy on her arm had been crackling mildly any time she had previously approached the door to Test Chamber 2. But as off-putting as the noise was, it was what she could vaguely make out within the room that had truly attracted her to the location.

Today was a special day. The day she decided to take a step forward in a way most of the others would refuse. Today was the day she would take direct action.

Once more her jumpsuit had been stripped down to her waist. But this time a few pieces of torn fabric had been wrapped over her chest, just barely covering the more inappropriate parts of her body. Her hair had also been tied back, only her bangs hanging loose over her face. But whar bhad been most interesting was her expression. A sharp and serious glare seemingly focused and fixated upon whatever creature seemed to be wriggling just on the other side of the door, just past the small grime covered window that gave a small peak within. In her hands she held two large batons, a decent amount of stripped electrical wire also tied together and hanging from her hip.

She took a deep breath, before finally reaching forward, testing the durability of the door with a slight push.

V. Open!
(Have some more ideas? Curious to meet Chocolat but care to run into her in some other way? Feel free to comment with a starter here! Or feel free to message me or contact me on my plurk @ chohakkaifan and we can plot something out!)

[wildguardian]

"Whoa!"

Under normal circumstances, this would have been a reaction to the frankly spectacular build of the young woman in the hallway ahead of him. There were only two problems with that: one, she had that barely-legal look and Yunlan wasn't, despite what his cat thought, completely without morals. Two? She was basically topless and standing right outside the door he'd been avoiding because it made his wrist Geiger counter chirp like a hungry baby bird.

About to open it.

Fuck. He broke into a jog, waving his hands frantically.

"Whoa, no, stop! That room's dangerous! It's -- shit." The princess hadn't known about radio. Did this girl know about radioactivity? "Radiation. Poison? Just don't open it! Not yet!"