Fallout 3: Little Lamplight to Vault 87- The Endtimes are Upon Us
The endtimes are upon us. There, I've said it twice. Don't believe me? Check this out.
That picture is the book end to the one I shared in my opening post, the one introducing Lilith. Symmetry. Things coming full circle. Those are clear indications that a narrative is reaching its conclusion. The end times are upon us.
Right. So let's check up on that garden gnome collection.
I have to admit I'm a little disappointed here. I expected more, and I expected to get better at arranging them. Moving these things around is a mini-game far, far more challenging than the main quest. Count how many of them are standing up, facing the right way, towards the viewer. It's hard, right? What with counting to zero not really being a thing.
If Lilith completes her quest, I'm considering doing an epilogue where she and a chosen companion -maybe even Dogmeat- scour the Wasteland for garden gnomes. No stone unturned. No gnome left behind. That makes a lot of sense to me.
But before that can happen, Lilith needs to finish things up. Let's get to that.
I've been doing a terrible job of summarizing the Fallout 3 narrative. I've failed because I haven't tried. I figured people either know the story or they don't know it. The people who know it don't need a summary. As for the people who don't know it, well, they can be ignored to facilitate my laziness. That's been the plan since day one.
Now that we're reaching the end, I kind of feel like catching everyone up. I'm not sure why. This isn't going to be 100% right. The people who know the story can correct things. That'll make it fun for them.
Ok. From the beginning. Lilith has a dad. His name is Liam Neeson. He's a scientist and a liar. The lying part isn't important. The science part is. He's building a water filter. This is good because water is good.
Dad has friends. They help him. He also has enemies. Sort of? No one's really opposing him. It's just that monsters keep getting up in his junk. Those monsters are the super mutants, the things that Lilith is always killing.
Dad is good at science, but his science thing doesn't work. It's missing something. That something is a GECK, or Garden of Eden Creation Kit. Don't ask me how it works or what it does. We just need it. That's what Lilith is doing now: she's getting the GECK.
The GECK is in Vault 87, which is in Little Lamplight, which is a town run by children. We've already dealt with the children part, so now it's just Lilith looking for the thing while monsters try to kill her.
There are two ways of getting to the thing. We took the harder way with more fighting because why not.
The first obstacle is a bridge with two mutants on it. They're super mutant brutes, the semi-tough ones. The guy in front isn't a problem but the guy behind him is. He has a missile launcher and missiles hurt.
The first one fell off the bridge because he lost his footing.
The second one took a critical from our plasma rifle and was finished by Star Paladin Cross. This is usually harder.
The next obstacle is this cave. That structure to the right is a little fortres. There's a mutant in there and he can be a nuisance. Flimsy though it seems, that little fort of his can absorb a lot of hurt.
I used to spend a lot of time doing finnicky stuff here, trying to kill the mutant without exposing myself. These days I just take a lot of drugs and charge in. The drugs, for the curious, are Med X, Jet and Psycho, Lilith's standards. Since the end times are upon us, Lilith is now using her uber-weapon, the Alien Blaster, scavenged from a downed spaceship. It one hits virtually everything, and turns them this snowy blue color.
Did anyone notice the mutant in the background of that photo? The one charging? There's two of them. This is supposed to be a trap, but if you have a good gun and the right drugs you can just blast your way through it.
The Alien Blaster comes with 120 alien power cells. There's nowhere near 120 enemies between now and the endgame, but Lilith felt like being economical, just in case she decides to scour the Wasteland for garden gnomes. She's back on the plasma rifle now.
Once you get through the cave you arrive at this derelict vault, Vault 87. The mutants have taken it over and made it their home. We need to kill them to get dad's thing.
Eventually we found a friendly mutant. His name is Fawkes. He was locked in a cell. Fawkes offered to help Lilith get the thing, in exchange for his freedom. Lilith agreed.
This is the part where we set Fawkes free.
If you're wondering who Sid is good question: I have no idea. Here's an even better question: Why does Lilith need help getting the GECK? Why team up with this monster guy, Fawkes? Well, the monster is immune to radiation and the GECK is in a room with lots of radiation. Remember that: Fawkes joined us because he's immune to radiation. That's his thing as much as science is dad's thing.
That's our friendly neighborhood monster, Fawkes. He's leading the way to the GECK.
He's not friends with the other monsters so we need to kill them. Between Fawkes, Star Paladin Cross and A3-21's Plasma Rifle this was a cakewalk. Not that I've ever walked on a cake before. And now that I think about it, walking on a cake sounds super difficult. There's no way the frosting could bear my weight so I'd probably sink into it. Messy. And what if it's a Red Velvet cake? Those are gross.
Which reminds me: Why does Imoen think pie is easy. I find pies to be very difficult, very hard to make- especially the crust. Maybe she's thinking of those frozen pies, like the Sara Lee pies? But if that's what she's thinking, why doesn't she just say it? Easy as a Sara Lee pie makes sense. Easy as pie doesn't. Then again, there's no Sarah Lee in the Forgotten Realms. They don't even have freezers. That means there are no easy pies and Imoen is just wrong. You're wrong, Imoen. Stop saying that.
Speaking of things that are wrong, I believe I said that dad doesn't have any enemies- that the monsters just keep getting in his way. That's kind of true, but not really. The monsters are a pain in the tuckus, and they're up in everyone's business for no apparent reason, but there's also this group called the Enclave. The Enclave wants to take dad's science thing. They even killed him over it. Or, rather, they made him kill himself over it. Whatever. It's too late to explain. Dad is dead. Long live dad's science thing.
Just as Lilth was escaping with the thing, those Enclave blokes ambushed her and kidnapped her. They caught up with her here, in this charming studio apartment.
Our next stop is Enclave headquarters. The Enclave put Lilith in prison, but then their leader told them to let her go. A little insurrection of sorts followed and the second in command ordered everyone to kill Lilith. Why I don't know. Like a minute ago he wanted information. Now he wants us dead. Unfortunately for him, we have the Alien Blaster and oodles of Stealth Boys, so he's not going to get his way. Instead his troops are going to turn snowy blue.
Enclave headquarters is huge and there's some weird stuff in there. Like that: What the rock is that?
An alien, probably, but Lilith has already seen an alien and it didn't look anything like that. Is it a different species of alien? An inconsistency in the narrative? Who knows. Certainly not me. I've never explored the place because I'm pretty sure they don't have garden gnomes, mole rats or lunch boxes.
Do you remember when I said the Enclave leader wanted to let us go? He wanted to let us go because he wanted to talk to us. We're about to meet him. He's up there, at the top of the stairs.
Turns out he's a computer. And kind of a stupid computer. His plan was to convince Lilith to do something to dad's science thing. Instead he let Lilith convince him to kill himself.
The leader of the Enclave, President Eden, is gone now, but the second in command, Colonel Autumn, still wants dad's science thing. He has a lot of troops but that's ok because we're going to kill them all with this robot.
That's it: You're up to date. You now know the story of Fallout 3. We're going to gather our crew and meet the giant death robot out front.
Best,
A.
Oh, but there's always a twist, isn't there? Here we see Star Paladin Cross racing ahead, Chasing Dreams. It's a Testament to her dedication, I suppose, but if she does this in the slaver compound, they'll be No Way Out.
The journey across the Open Range was long and arduous, a kin to traveling 3000 Miles to Graceland. When we arrived, we were face to face with the Paradise Falls gatekeeper, the stubborn Grouse. He wouldn't let us in.
We're in. Next step: secure the slave pen key, held by Forty. Lilith wasn't about to Let Him Go.
This is were the fun begins. This is where we enter our Field of Dreams. But there were dangers ahead, too, Hidden Figures. Hold, Star Paladin Cross: Hold! The War is just getting started.
Alas, Star Paladin Cross couldn't hold back. She charged ahead, like the American Flyer she is. Lilith was forced out of cover to protect her, melting each threat.
Lilith found herself racing across a crowded battle field, shooting all comers at point blank range.
I'd say the whole thing had a John Wick vibe, but Kevin Costner wasn't in that.
The biggest threat was a mini-gun wielder, perched atop a platform. Lilith couldn't get an angle on him from the ground so she ascended his platform. It was a showdown at high noon, and Lilth was Wyatt Earp.
It was time to confront the slaver king, the head honcho: Eulogy Jones. His pad was lurid and seedy, almost like a set from Kevin Costner's critically panned 1981 debut film Malibu Hot Summer. This Eulogy did not last 17 minutes.
With the last slaver dead, Lilth made her way to the slave pen. The children were freed. Promise kept.
I agree with his assessment, though.