vault66 | MONTH 2 LOG

Entry tags:

MONTH 2 LOG

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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[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.]

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[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.

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?"

She was watching him the minute she became aware of him, one of a couple people in the room and the one closest to her at the moment.

He introduced himself, speaking casually and somehow that was irritating to her. Wait he wanted her name?

"Azula." she answered plainly, internally debating if she should lie or not. With how she felt in the heat of the moment she decided she didn't care. Let the chips fall where they may.

"Princess Azula of the Fire Nation. I demand to know what is going on here."

"Fire Nation," Yunlan repeated. "Good meeting you, Your Highness." Now that was someplace he'd never heard of-- but they were also speaking English, the language more natural on his tongue than it'd ever been in foreign language classes. 'Not dead' wasn't the only difference between his brain and body right now and the way it had been the last time he remembered it.

Maybe 'Fire Nation' in whatever her native language was sounded like the name of some country he'd recognize. Who could say?

"Sorry I can't help," he added, the corner of his mouth quirking into a wry smile. "It's called the Vault, I guess? And there's a few other people kicking around here who woke up from those same pods. It sounds like they're all pretty lost."

A slow blink as she studied him for signs of sarcasm, maybe some tell he might be covering up his feelings but as far as she could see he was being honest.

At least he'd respected her proper title. That helped her calm down a little.

"A vault...some kind of prison then." she should have expected this. She had tried to be careful and smart but maybe her luck had finally run out.

But no...what about those images? The voice talking to her in the pod? Lost was right.

"How many others? Are they dressed like us?" She had noticed the jumpsuit and after reeling at the idea that someone had undressed her she had to adjust to the feeling of this material. Not at all the quality in which she'd become accustomed.

"Not all of them." He wrinkled his nose, glancing down at the bright blue fabric of his own jumpsuit. "I take it this isn't your style either? It's sure not mine. But the only other clothes I've seen around here so far are in a lot worse shape than these jumpsuits."

With a shrug, he continued, "And I haven't seen any jailers. If this is a prison, something's fu--" Right. Princess-appropriate language: she was starting to calm down a little, and he thinks it had begun with his 'Your Highness.'

Coup paranoia, maybe. That seemed like a royalty thing.

"...something's messed up," he finished.

"To say the least." She was straightening up now. She had something to focus on and that was helping.

What drew her attention next was the device on her arm. She started fiddling with the knobs and tried tugging on it to remove it from her wrist. The screens flickered and her eyes lit up with curiosity.

"This is...interesting." she noted and glanced back Zhao "Does yours do this?" It was currently showing her vital signs which while elevated were not dangerous.

"Haven't tried yet," he admitted, prodding curiously at his own. Radiation-- this thing had a radiation gauge? He hoped he wasn't going to have to use that one. There, vital signs. He turned his wrist to show her: elevated blood pressure, no injuries.

It seemed like something had handled his injuries, and cleared the experimental serum from his system. Maybe that counted as a lucky break. He wasn't going to keel over spontaneously; he'd have to work at it.

"Seems like it has quite a few functions. See, this one's for sending messages, that one tracks radiation."

Azula gave a start as her device suddenly started singing at them. Her surprise lasted for about ten seconds before she snapped the music off again looking around sharply to see if the music had alerted anyone or triggered some kind of attack.

Once she was satisfied they were still "safe" she turned the knob again and the music continued, not from the same place but from further in the song as if it had continued playing even when Azula had switched it off.

Not that Azula knew either of those things. She was adjusting the volume and peering at where the sound was coming from suspiciously.

"How is it doing this...?"

"Hey, classic jazz!" Yunlan perked up at the sound of the scratchy old tune, leaning forward. "That might be a radio station -- if it is, someone out there must be broadcasting the music. Uh--"

He glanced up at her warily. "You, uh. You know what radios are, right?"

No matter how much of a backwater the Fire Nation might be, it ought to at least get radio. Unless this was all a lot weirder than he was giving it credit for.

Azula looked dismayed that he apparently knew what that was, and that she should know but didn't.

"I do not...and choose your response to that very carefully." She knew better by this point to lash out at someone trying to help, but under the tangle of emotions and stress she was still a very proud person.

"Where I come from if you have music, it's in person."

"Okay," he said, slowly. "What year was it? Where I'm from, they've had radios for a century." Give or take -- he'd never paid that much attention to technical history. And back before radio, well, none of the rest of the technology in this vault ought to exist.

"Where I'm from, most of the music isn't live anymore. Live events are expensive, but anybody can get a recording of the sound, like what that was playing." He flicked a few fingers at her wrist-device.

That question clearly made her uncomfortable, but she knew she needed the answer to be out there.

"It's two years after the end of The Great War. And if you don't know which war I'm talking about then I am even more concerned."

Because those things he seemed so comfortable with were entirely foreign to her. She tried to look less worried by studying her pip-boy and messing with the controls again.

"Are you from the place in those images I saw before the pod opened? America?"

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Living Quarters

Re: Living Quarters

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