DAY 18, November 9th

1:38 AM: Could only sleep for about three hours. Besides the dirty, uncomfortable sleeping bag, I can't risk staying here any longer than that. Feeling a little better but honestly still exhausted. I think the best thing I can do is head back to the nursing home while everyone is, ideally, sleeping and then decide next steps in the morning.  Heading that way now.

2:14 PM: Stowed Nora for Edge and moved out slowly, Dogmeat crawling low behind me quietly as we went. Moved down the stairs exiting the pool and the rear of the apartments, across the road, and stuck to the shadows of the buildings there. It was the middle of the night but the sky was pretty clear and vision was not bad. 

Spotted a raider patrolling the empty street heading back towards Mystic Pines. Watched him through my scope walk away before moving forward to the heavy machinery storage yard, taking cover behind the shell of a van. Dashed from the van to some large yellow forklifts and then through a break in the chain link fence that had surrounded the yard. Was able to cross a large open field, using the few dead trees as cover, and make it back to the nursing home without being seen. 

I'm back in my "room" now...ironic since we dreaded being in a place like this that now I'm relieved to be here. Going to sleep till dawn and I’ll think of a plan then...

8:00 AM: Woke to the sun having just risen and though I'm still tired I’m feeling better. Need to take some meds when I get home, which is my next stop. Decided to play it safe and stash the heavier clothing and armor, along with the two shotguns Dogmeat brought me back in the plant, then head back to Sanctuary with the rest of our salvage. Strapped as much as he could carry to Dogmeat and we are leaving Mystic Pines through the south door which offers a clear shot over some hills towards the Starlight. Hopefully it will be uneventful. 

9:44 AM: Crossed the hills behind the Super-Duper Mart then under some large power lines. Spotted the Starlight and headed straight for it. Was back on the road to Concord and passing the billboard with its hidden mattress shortly after. Stuck to the now familiar streets and made it the bridge leading back home with no issues. Jun greeted me from his post outside our gate as I returned. I have to admit it feels good to be home.

In my room now, going to sit here in my chair for a bit and then get to work on going through all this junk. 

10:47 AM: Woke with a start to Dogmeat barking, I must have dozed off in my chair. I was dreaming for the first time since I left the Vault. Nora...

No time now, need to focus. I have a lot of shit to sort through. Heading over to the Rosa's, maybe Sturgis can help.  

11:52 AM: Dogmeat have been barking because there was something in the mailbox at the roses. Cigarette carton, never thought to look in there. Went over to the workstation and chatted with Sturgis a bit then gave him a leather left arm to match the right one he had before I got around to stowing all the junk that we had brought back home.

Stored everything except the empty bottles, that monster’s hand that I found, my gold lighter, the money (still struggling with using it to build stuff even though I know it has little value), and a straw pillow. I also kept some of the toys that I had found to put in Josh's room. I know it's silly, but somehow it makes me feel better. Placed the pillow on one of the beds in the Rossa's home for someone to sleep on and set about filling up all the empty bottles with water. 

On my way home, to toss the toys in his room, I showed Preston the giant monster hand I had found that looked like the one I killed in Concord and the mosquito-thing's proboscis. "Deathclaw" and "Bloodbug", pretty accurate names for the things, if not too creative.  Bad news is he says there's more of these Deathclaws and sometimes they hunt together. Good news is they are a rarity compared to the other creatures of the Commonwealth.  Tossed the dried hand on the shelf in our living room by my folded American flag, partially because I have no idea what to do with it, and partially to remind me of the dangers out there.

Going to use some of the freshwater I've pumped and the cleanest toothbrush I have come across to brush my teeth. Just realizing it's been a while since I've actually done it, also need to think about finding some better implements to keep my head clean and my beard trimmed. Going bald was a decision I made to stop fighting the inevitable, and Nora dug the cueball look. Now with the condition of most clothing and bedding I've seen, it just makes sense hygiene wise as well.

12:30 PM: Put a scalpel and a pair of scissors and our medicine cabinet as well as a plunger near the toilet. It's the little things like gravity that you are thankful for when you realize that's all you need for the plumbing to work! Been thinking about setting up a generator with Sturgis and trying to get some electricity rigged up here in our little settlement.  Before I do that though I need to deal with those Raiders at the plant. My hope is that the strike I made on them is enough to have disorganized them, of course it also means that they're going to be on guard for me when I return. At best I'd be striking again this evening, I don't want to wait longer than that and lose my advantage. Going to tear down any extra weapons and armor I have and see if I can modify my gear before heading back out with dogmeat.

2:50 PM: Was able to break down three of the hot plates, a toy car, camera, some gas canisters, and duct tape to give Edge a three crank capacitor. Probably her biggest shortcoming right now has been that I can only get two shots off before having to crank her up again.  The extra shot could make all the difference. Used some scrap to add a pocket to my leather left arm as Codsworth was hovering by, seeming to admire my work. After spending a little more time organizing my inventory I think we are set.

One hundred eighty rounds of .38, forty fusion sell, and five bullets for Nora. I decided to take Nora and the Edge as well as the auto pipe rifle as a backup. I'd ditch the rifle when I ran out of ammo if need be. Gently placed the mini nude I have recovered in the shower of my bathroom, mostly since I was not really sure where else to put the damn thing. On my way out I grabbed a gourd and a melon from my room, antibiotics, and some grilled stag from the kitchen. Stored the Nuka Quantum and other foodstuffs in the cooler as well as the chems I had found.  Mama Murphy will have to wait for her next hit. Quickly planted another Tato (Jun informed me that was their name) as well as that carrot I found in the plot outside my window. Hopefully they take. While I was by the pump I injected my last antibiotic and filled up on water. Hopefully this'll help me shake my inability to feel like I'm ever rested. I Have enough water on me but I'll hit Maria's crops on my way out also to see if anything is ready to harvest. 

3:08 PM: Well, Maria's crops were still not ready so I'm standing at the bridge heading south, the Concord water tower visible off in the distance to my right.  Preston told me that the Minutemen could "use a man like me", I just want to make good on the promise to that woman at Tenpines first. Going to take the same path I took to get home and see if I can get back into the plant through that pipe. Hopefully they didn't think to add security or replace that turret. 

4:41 PM: I ate a gourd and wild corn on my way back to the city and a little after that, as I was crossing the hills towards the electrical towers behind the super Duper mart, I came across an open grave. Nothing really, just a broken wooden coffin and some scattered bones with just a wooden post as a marker. Can't tell if it was dug up before or after all this happened but, just another reminder that this world is mostly full of death. 

The afternoon is stretching on, with any luck I'll be getting to Mystic Pines by dusk. Thinking that it's smarter to infiltrate in the cover of night anyhow.

6:01 PM: Made it to Mystic Pines quicker than I expected. All my stuff is in the dresser where I left it, so it might be safe to assume that this is still a secure location. Going to spend an hour resting, maybe read a little, until it gets a darker. I'll make my way back to the pipe and see what I find.

7:53 PM: wWith the setting sun we made our way out of the nursing home and north along the street, off to the side in the brush to stay hidden. Just outside I saw that raider who had been patrolling last night, he was looking at the building I had cleared of the raider camp the other day, the one with the turrets and the cook-pot on the roof. He never saw me shoot him from across the street. Took the bottle cap and sixteen rounds of .38 ammo he had along with a pipe pistol, left the rest. I drug his body into the building he was examining, no point in leaving it there to draw attention.

Made it past the two raiders high above the street on The Nuka-Cola billboard walk away again, but I'm pretty sure they heard me. We are in the tunnel right now and about to go back in. I can't lie, I don't want to go back, but those people need my help and I'll have no chance at finding Josh if I don’tI have allies in this wasteland. 

9:27 PM: Everything appeared to be the way I left it: All the bodies are where they were and if the rest of the raiders came down here to investigate they didn't stick around. Took another pipe pissed off the woman I had killed with the Molotov cocktail in the lower tunnel before continuing forward and scouting out the longer tunnel at the top of the stairs that turn back in the other direction.

At the end of the long hallway was the raider I had shot. He had some .38 rounds and a stimpac on him. Just beyond him was a pile of ashes from the raider that I had first killed. Sifting through it I found some usable shotgun shells. On the cabinet behind his remains was a chem box with a simple lock. Inside was a plastic bottle of buffout and a syringe of Med-X. Also found some mentats in a cooler next to it. Slowly sneaking back down the hallway I noticed two wooden crates on the shelf. The bottom one had a couple RadAways and another tin of mentats. The crate above it had a lock on it which was easily picked but other than a power relay coil and more RadAway, there was just a wooden cutting board.

The hall had two open doorways exiting the into a large open area with a staircase heading up several stories to my right. The openness of the area made me feel uncomfortable so I retreated back down the hallway into the right where the open blue door was. The room beyond that had the turret and ghouls in it was as I left it yesterday. Making my way through it I found a pair of double closed doors which I opened slowly.  Beyond them are some stairs heading up, turning back on themselves as they went, and the waypoint marker indicates we need to go that way.  Heading out with the Edge ready and Nora loaded... 

10:44 PM: Feeling sleepy again, but it feels like normal tiredness, which is a good thing I suppose. Took the short flight of stairs up and right grabbing some ductape and a pack of cigs from a metal shelf. On the next floor a hallway stretched ahead of us and looked like it ended with some sort of stairs, there was also an opening to the right a ways down with a door of some sort. To our left were more stairs heading up, so we took them to another blue door. I heard someone say "What?" from behind it and held my gun ready as I opened it slowly. 

Beyond was a short hall with a pass-through looking into another hall l in the far wall. To the right the hallway had been barricaded with old furniture and to the left was a door. I crept almost to the end of the hall and they came...just walking into the hallway unaware of me. I swung Edge up and took the head off the man who was walking through the opened door then fired off a second shot through the passthrough at a dirty-faced woman but hit the wall.  Still crouched I backed down the hallway while Dogmeat rushed in, gunfire echoing. From back out at the top of the steps I saw them firing at Dogmeat and shot wildly, blinding one of them with the blast. Another shot through the passthrough to the head and he was down as Dogmeat fought on. As I caught my breath one rushed at me screaming with some sort of weapon, I managed to get a shot off and his momentum carried his body past down the steps behind me.  Advancing forward I could hear at least one more but Dogmeat's whimpers let me know he needed help. I rushed through the open door at the end of the short hall  into a room with a desk.  Beyond that lie another open door back through the same wall and I found myself where the passthrough looked into. It was another room, not a hallway like I thought. Two raiders lie dead on the ground and Dogmeat was curled up behind another large desk. There was another open door that led back into the hall, on the other side of the barricade, so I closed it quickly before going to my companion. 

He was ok, but in need of a stim. After administering it I turned to the door. Lack of sleep was making me sluggish but I had to take out the remaining raiders. As I heard two raiders, one more commanding then the other, bicker over wether we were gone or not their voices faded into the distance. Needing something to help keep my focus I downed the one Nuka-Cola I kept, the rush of caffeine winding my eyes. Looks like the coast is clear for now...

11:21 PM: Made it through what felt like a little maze of halls and rooms thanks to that barricade.  Amazing amount of junk we could scavenge but not now with the raiders.

Found the reception lobby of the plant at the end of it all, the only way forward was back outside to the guarded front I scouted the other day so that’s not an option. While I was examining the empty frame of a Corvega V8 that was on display in the room I heard more voices. Cursing my carelessness I slunk back towards the hallway I entered from, lucky for me too since I set off some improvised explosive near a Nuka-Cola machine. Other then the shit being scared out of me I think I'm ok. Going to lay low here a bit, poke around quietly, and see if there is anything useful. Let them think we are gone or dead...

DAY 17, November 8th

7:27 AM: Slept eight hours and awoke groggy. I'm going to see if I can maybe grab another hour or two of sleep...

9:28 AM: So I slept some more but still feel tired, I'll have to worry about it later. Had a quick breakfast of another mutt chop, half a gord and some Sugar Bombs. As I finished my meal Dogmeat was howling at a locked security gate just beyond the room I slept in and through the mesh walls I could see two first aid kits, metal shelves, and a skeleton in a wheelchair among some interesting looking crates. Before going to investigate I called him over and took everything, except my laser musket, a short double-barreled shotgun, and the ammo from him (left his bandanna and goggles) and stashed it in an old dresser next to the bed I slept in. Also stashed the Nuka-Colas and heavier junk I had been holding onto...Ill be back for it all later. Now that's our weight situation is under control I'm going to turn my attention to this door.

11:16 AM: It took two bobby pins but I got into the secured room. Not as much there as I would've liked but I did get some Wonderglue, three stim packs, a RadAway and another purified water. Exploring the nursing home further I found it to be as depressing as Nora and I had imagined it would've been, even more so decaying and abandoned. Not surprisingly, there's signs that someone has squatted here in the past. The room that the locked room seemed to be a greenhouse with a gourd planter from which I gathered another gourd. There was a Jangles the Moon Monkey doll in one of the empty bedrooms along with a Nuka-Cola truck and a toy car. To my surprise in the curio of the room were two power relay coils which I snatched up. When I left that room I looked through a gaping hole in the north wall out into blue sky.  In the distance beyond the ruined elevate highway I could see that satellite dish that I had encountered days ago. Taking a breath I turned my attention back to the remaining rooms: Some jet, a clean gray suit, and a Nuka-Cola Quantum was all I found. As I was turning to leave the living room area I saw what appeared to be a hand made magazine sitting on a stereo cabinet next to a lamp. Picking it up I read the title: "Tales of a Junk Town Jerky Vendor". It had a crudely drawn pack brahman on the cover and the title of this issue seem to be "Take your business on the road". Flipping through it I saw several hand written articles pertaining to the art of bartering and trade in this world. I feel like I can probably make use of this, and have been wanting something new to read, so I stowed it in my pack.

Heading back down the hallway with the gaping hole in the wall I noticed a blue door that I had missed earlier with a sign above stating: "Restricted Area". The lock was pretty advanced but after only one broken bobby pin I was able to pick it. Inside I saw what looked like an empty storage room with a staircase defending and turning back on itself as it went down.  Gun drawn I slowly descended down to the building's generator room. For my curiosity I scored myself another fusion core! 

With nothing more found after searching here I'm going to start heading back into the city to scout out my target. I’m going to stash what I found in the room with my other stuff, even the core. I need it, but can't afford the weight right now. 

12:01 PM: I made sure the core was hidden under everything else in the dresser then headed out to the front reception area to continue towards my goal. The clock on the wall here also says 9:48, I think that number might stick in my head forever...

12:15 PM: Leaving Mystic Pines we slowly headed south down the street, past the raider base that we had taken out last night. Continuing by what looked like a heavy machinery storage yard we continued down the street, above us the interstate stretched high in the sky. Just as I was looking up at it we overheard gunshots coming from an apartment block across the street to my right, out of my view. I waited with Dogmeat behind me around the corner of a building I was near until the shots stopped, then advanced slowly. Going up a short stair I peered around the corner into what was the communal pool area of the complex. Across the way, on the other side of the pool, I saw two ghouls hunched down picking at something on the ground. They had the same wild look about them that the ones I encountered yesterday had, so I slowly drew the pipe rifle and took aim. One shot for the one on the left, three for the right. With the ghouls down I made my way forward slowly, reloading the pipe rifle as I went in crouched and quiet in case there were more. I found myself at the edge of the apartment's pool, full of the most putrid smelling irradiated water I've seen so far. Across the way was a cookpot two sleeping bags and just beyond were their former owners. Looks like a pack of ghouls took some raiders camped here by surprise and I picked off the few survivors. Took all the rounds and bottle caps I found on the raiders (one had fallen in the pool but thankfully the shallow end) as well as any useful junk off of the ghouls, but left their armor behind. Looks like they had a pretty decent firefight based on the bullet holes in the walls, and the bodies. As we were about to head out I noticed a wooden box with a fragmentation grenade, two Molotov cocktails, and a fragmentation mine inside! Took them all. These could save my life.

With my waypoint directly ahead of me I decided to cross through the bottom of the apartment complex and push on towards the Plant again.

12:35 PM: Just as I was leaving the apartments there was another one of those damn Polowski preservation shelters, this one surrounded by three skeletons. It looks like they were trying to get inside when it happened. Opening the rusted tube I found a skeleton in army fatigues gripping...a mini nuke! Why on Earth he had it and decided to keep it with him in the preservation station is beyond me, but here it is.  Even though the thing must weigh over 10 pounds I can't just leave it here. I'll strap it on Dogmeat's back if I have to, but this thing is coming home with us!

12:53 PM: As I was making my way through the heart of the city I realized I was on the street leading back towards the Super-Duper Mart. Looking up at the Nuka-Cola sign hanging on a walkway between two buildings several stories above I saw to raiders just standing there, unaware of my presence. It appeared one of them was wearing some sort of bulky suit while the other was dressed in similar fashion to the others I had encountered.  I decided to take advantage of my unseen position and open fire on them but after I backed up a couple dozen paces down the street, trying get a better angle, I thought better of it. I can't go around just shooting every single "bad guy" that I see, I have a mission, and I need to focus on that.

I quietly slipped through the intersection, hurrying as I heard one of them saying he thought he heard something. With my heart racing I made my way across to street to a chain-link fence with a gate between two buildings. Opening it I slipped through, closed it behind me, and climbed a dozen cement stairs at the back of some building. Slamming my back against the blue metal wall and clutching the rifle to my chest I opened my eyes and saw the Corvega Plant looming in front of me.

I have a view of what appears to be the left rear part of the Plant. I'm trying to scout it but the sun is in my eyes right now and Dogmeat has my laser musket. Despite that I think I saw a raider at the very top of structure in front of me, at least a hundred feet up, but I can't be sure. The sky has suddenly gone foggy as thunder booms in the distance and the rad meter in my Pip-Boy is going off.  Another rad storm. I'm moving in for a closer look.

1:02 PM: Swapped out the automatic pipe rifle for my laser musket from Dogmeat, only have seven more shots but I need that scope. As I was trading my inventory with him I noticed that we were near a large broken pipe of some sort with another one of those sun like chalk symbols on the inner wall. Regardless of any sort of markings the pipe seem to be heading towards my way point and was big enough for me to stand upright in. I entered hoping to maybe have a rear access to my goal with cover from the rad storm raging above us.

My instincts were right, this pipe leads right into the Plant! I'm now standing in a large round tube with water in it, just up to my ankles, and I can see that it twists up and to the right out of my view ahead. I hope my luck holds out, this could be just the break I need against what appears to be a vastly out numbering enemy.

2:49 PM: As I scrambled up the incline pipe, trying my best not to slide backwards, I saw the tunnel stretch forward as it leveled out and at the end were two ghouls. Having not seen me I shot and killed one with a blast from the musket in the back.  I went to fire again and noticed the other one appeared to already be dead. Sending Dogmeat ahead to scout he came back with a squeaky toy alien from one of the ghouls, but nothing else hostile made itself known. 

Moving forward slowly I took some bottle caps off the dead ghouls then realized what happened. There was another machine gun turret in a room accessible through a removed panel of the pipe and a broken wall behind it. Before it could open fire on us I stepped into the opening and nailed it with two shots before it exploded. As we crept into the water flooded room I could hear someone talking and there was one of those can chime traps hanging right next two a sandbag bunker which had been built around the turret.  I disarmed it and began to take stock of the room that we were in, but as I was about to lower my guard I heard someone say, "what the fuck was that?" from down a long hall leading into the heart of the plant. They were more of them but they didn’t know about me.  Looking down the hallway through the musket's scope all I could make out was a long stretch of pipes and cement with three more of the can traps hanging from the ceiling. After a few minutes the voices moved further away and I decided it was safe to check the room we were in. 

It was a simple underground room with two exits: the long hallway into the plant and the hole in the wall back to the pipe from where I came.  In one corner was an large bo-like structure with one side open, a small control room of sorts, and in it was a dead raider. Searching quickly he had .305 rounds, a pipe bolt-action pistol, Knuckles, and armor. I took the rounds and left the rest. On a shelf behind him was a box with Jet and Medex, and an ammo box with a simple enough lock (that still took two Bobby pins) which had eighteen fusion cells and eight shotgun shells inside. Thank God, This old musket's scope gives me the edge I need but without ammo it’s basically just dead weight. Heh, “The Edge", maybe I'll name her that if I get out of this?  I also found a toolbox with a tin of Mentats, Wonderglue, and a scalpel, all which went in my bag.

Heading back towards the hallway to check on the other raiders I heard I stopped to sift though the turret’s remains. Was able to salvage some 5.56 rounds, a biometric scanner like the ones I used in the service, and an enhanced targeting card. Even though the stuff was starting to weigh me down I couldn’t just leave these resources behind. Taking a few minutes I searched the three dead ghouls and came up with some military grade duct tape, some more caps, and a pack of cigarettes. Too bad I gave up smoking a few hundred years ago and that they were covered in ghoul…fluids. I could use one right now, might give in if I don’t find a silver lining soon. Feeling thirsty and seeing I only had two waters left I ventured a sip of the still water that had flooded the floor and grimaced at the slick oily taste. Heading back to the control room I noticed that near the dead raider was a terminal so I went ahead and activated it.

Apparently it was owned by a "Lonnie" and contained a journal of sorts detailing the exploits of the raider gang I was hunting. It talked about how Lexington was "there's" after wiping out a ghoul swarm without losing anyone and someone named Jared was setting them up in a big car factory. There was another journal entry about apartments that they found while sweeping through the town and how Gristle (The same raider that I'd kill back in Concord I assume...how many Gristles can there be?) took some teams to flush out ghoul stragglers. Apparently this Lonnie had an eye on a nice apartment with a good view that he wanted to have. Another entry about asking Jarod for another turret down here, looks like he didn't get it, which is a good thing for me. This Lonnie person was obviously aware of the security breach they had in the pipe that I used, to bad his boss didn’t listen. 

There was another entry about Gristle almost getting them all killed down here by drinking with his guys and making enough noise to draw more ghoul attention. Despite being drunk they were able to shoot straight and hold them off. The final entry was Lonnie complaining that they never got the second turret and that Jared needs to get his head out of his ass. Apparently he was pouring caps into some "sight" thing...like Mama Murphy does?  The last line of the entry says he's going to speak to Jared and make him see reason despite Gristle warning him it will only make him angry. So now I know Jarod is the boss here, and the man I need to take down.

As I stepped away from the terminal I looked down as the dead raider I now knew to be Lonnie. Seems like he was a smart guy...too bad his fellow raiders weren't. Looks like his fear of the ghouls manifested finally, hopefully it was quick.  I'm now much more knowledgable about my situation. 

We are going to make our way down the hall, I’ll need to disarm the can traps as we go to avoid detection. First though I need to eat, maybe a gourd and these snack cakes?

5:30 PM: The hallway stretch several hundred feet and cranked up “Edge” as I went  slowly, disarming the traps one by one. With 21 shots I felt better with her in my hands then the old rifle, despite the limited rate of fire. At the end was a cement stair which turned to the right at the top.  From there was a shorter hallway ending at a door to the left and another long hallway branching off to the right, doubling back the direction I came from. At the end of that one I saw a raider sitting at a desk a few hundred feet away, unaware I was watching him. I decided to take the chance at shooting him from my vantage point and with one shot and he disintegrated in his chair before he even knew he was dead. I back around the corner and down the stairs to await any reinforcements, which was a good thing as a gruff sounding female voice shouted: "When you turn up, your dead.” from the direction of the man I shot. Retreating further back down to the lower hallwayI put The Edge's site to my eye and waited. 

The first one came around the corner with what looked like a pipe pistol, he fell taking a blast to the chest. The woman continued to taunt me somewhere up above, but I held my position. A few minutes later she came next but wisely leaned around the corner unlike her compatriot, which blocked me from getting a clean shot. After missing with my second round I backpedaled some more while cranking The Edge up and blasted two more times missing while she was rushing me and firing off shots of her own.  With bullets hitting the narrow cement walls around me I threw a Molotov at her, its glass shattering on her chest as she dropped her gun ash tried to roll in the shallow trickle of water on the ground, screaming.  It was done.

Continuing to hang back in the hall I heard what sounded like a gunshot and then an explosion rocked the hallway sending bits of concrete splashing in the water at my feet followed by dust. After waiting a few more minutes, still squinting through my scope, I slowly made my way up the hallway again stopping at the women’s blackened corpse. She had eight rounds of .38 ammo and a modified gas mask with goggles which I pealed from her still smoking face, leaving the rest of her gear. The rest of her body looked like a barbecue gone wrong, but the mask had protected her face which was still rosy, almost alive.  Her dead eyes stared at me and I thought to myself she might have been pretty if she had been born into someplace other then this nightmare of a world.  Pushing on the man who I shot at the top of the stairs had rolled halfway down and only had some .38 rounds and a stimpak that was worth taking.

At the top of the stairs I slowly peeked around the corner, the smaller hallway before me clear and the longer one to my right the same. Despite this, I know these three are only a small fraction the raiders hold up in here.  I have to go slow and quiet, I've kicked the hornets nest...

4:10 PM: I sent Dogmeat to inspect the ashes of the first raider who had been sitting at the desk down the long hall. No one came out as he went and he returned with not one, but two short double-barreled shotguns. I decided to hold onto them for now since he brought them to me, but I'll ditch them once things get too heavy.

After several more minutes of watching it appeared both ways were clear. Deciding it would be safer to inspect the shorter hall first since I could get back to the stairs quicker, I decided to move forward after quickly downing a cold mutt chop and some bites of a gourd. 

There was a blue door in the left wall and I opened it slowly as we both stayed crouched. It opened to a large room with pipes and fences. Someone saying "What the hell was that?" as I sent Dogmeat charging in alerted me to their presence and it escalated quickly from there. 

First I disintegrated one that was shooting at Dogmeat who was rushing into the room as I held my ground in the open doorway. Out of my sight to the left I could her a turret dispensing an endless supply of flying death and the blood, screams, and gunfire merged into a twisted blur of white noise. Another man rushed me through the open door wielding a tire iron and I managed to get my musket cranked up just in time to blast him as he fell in a heap on top of me. I scrambled backwards kicking the door shut as I went. 

Pulling back into the stairway I counted my rounds: twenty-six more 10mm, eight fusion shells. Putting away The Edge I reloaded Nora as I prepared to push forward and retrieve Dogmeat who was still in there.  I stuck myself with a Rad Away, tucking the sack connected to the tubing in my belt, and downed a water with a dry snack cake and silt beans in my mouth..best I could do in the middle of a cat and mouse firefight. 

Just as I had finished my self triage I heard them: "Musta ran away...we're fine." but the sentiment was not shared. I listened to two men argue about staying on guard, the first one should have listened to his friend's warning that someone might be sneaking up on them. They appeared right in front of me while I hid in the shadows, the first one to his right and headed towards the blue door which I had closed. Before they could notice the dead bodies in the hallway ahead of them I shot twice at the back of his head with Nora taking most of his skull off. His partner managed to graze me with a bullet before I took him down as well. Jesus! That was too close.  I've backed down the stairs again to catch my breath before going back in. I can't leave Dogmeat behind... 

6:34 PM: Taking a breath and reloading Nora I returned up the stairs and to the blue door, the two dead men I just killed sprawled on the floor before it. I opened the door and saw a female raider through the chain-link fence to my left and Dogmeat on the ground next to her. My heart stopped, I couldn't tell if he was dead or not. When I moved forward she saw me and opened fire, backed up by the turret. Moving back into the hallway I attempted to lure her out with a shot at the metal door, but she didn't take the bait. Going back in I shot of a few more rounds at some tanks hoping they would explode, but my bullets couldn't penetrate their skin. With little other choice I ran in and fired off one more shot, a lucky one that hit her in the back of the head sending her down. Pressing my advantage I injected a stem in my thigh and ran forward throwing my only frag grenade at the turret. It flew through the air in what seemed like a slow-motion arc landing with a rattle right under the legs of the machine. A second later and exploded and the room was secured.

Not taking any chances I moved cautiously towards my companion.  A wimpier let me know he was still alive and I let him know he was a good boy as I used a stimpak on him. He was back up quickly, wagging his tail and licking me, then I turned to survey the room we were now in. 

6:53 PM: Not more then a few minutes after we started to survey the room two ghouls squeezed through an opening in the floor near what looked like a giant press, some sort of manufacturing machinery. Dogmeat barked a warning and I immediacy opened fire with Nora. In the process I hit something explosive and this time they went up, filling the room with the deafening explosion of fire sending one of the ghouls flying. When it was over I had only one more bullet left and Nora, but both of them were dead and we were standing.

Seven...I killed seven people in those halls and this room. I know, I had to or they would have killed me, and I’ve killed many more then that in Concord and other places but it feels different this time, more intimate. I dunno...

8:37 PM: After taking all the ammo and caps from the dead, and another bio scanner and vacuum tube from the turret's shell, I searched the rest of the room. There had been no more further sign of raiders or ghouls, and I felt that I had at least clear this area. It was getting late anyway and I had to consider retreating for the evening and pushing forward again tomorrow.

In the room near where the explosion happened there was an another open container of sorts like Lonnie’s control room, large enough for me to walk in and with what looked like a still on top. Inside were several silver canisters labeled “Caution" and an open fridge full of human bones. Pushing the questions around the appliance out of my mind I grabbed a couple gas canisters that were on the ground, a hotplate, two empty milk bottles, and an enamel bucket. Figured I could stash them back at the nursing home. Just as I was about to turn around and make for the hallway I spotted a duffel bag sitting on a box of some sort behind some insulated tubing to the right of the open container. Inside were 12 fusion cells, some .45 rounds, and a short pipe revolver rifle. I took the ammo and left the rifle. I was tired, thirsty, and exhausted. Pushing forward now would be suicide, so I decided to retreat back to that apartment block under the cover of nights and make camp at the sleeping bags. With that as our plan we headed back into the small hallway and then down the stairs into the flooded room by the pipe.

Not stopping we went through the room and into the large pipe, almost slipping down the steep decline that twisted left, and then exiting into the cool evening air. The sky is clear with only a few clouds, the sun is just setting. With any luck will get back to the apartment block without any trouble.

9:31 PM: Made it back to the pool at the apartments and made my was into the cleaner of the two sleeping bags. I'm overly tired but I forced myself to eat two ears of corn, my last silt bean, and the old sweet roll that I found at Slocum Joe's. Also drank my last two clean waters before dragging the corpses that were within sight of the sleeping bags into the pool so I wouldn't have to look at them when I woke up. It's dangerous and I'm exposed, but I have Dogmeat with me so with any luck I'll be able to get some sleep and then decide what next plan of action will be tomorrow.

DAY 16, November 7th

6:44 AM: Slept 10 hours and I feel refreshed but still lethargic. Still no dreams...dunno if that's good or bad. Super thirsty from the meds and booze though, and it sounds like another storm, joy. I hope it's on one of those "rad" ones....

8:27 AM: Ok, well I used the antibiotics from Carla as I was adjusting my inventory some more. Realized I had stashed some 10mm ammo in the dresser and took 17 more rounds  Also stashed some scrapped steel I had at the bottom of my pack in the Rosa carport. Feeling a little better after my breakfast of well water and that ribeye with a roasted gourd. 

I’m now standing a the the bridge leading out of Sanctuary with Dogmeat, the Corvaga Plant as our goal. Spoke to Mama Murphy on my way out and after thanking me for her chair she asked for Mentats this time. I told her later and she was agreeable enough. If she has an addiction to chems she sure is able to manage it...

Sky's still rumbling but has only produced a drizzle so far. I've brought along Nora, my musket, the combat knife I traded from Carla, and one Molotov cocktail. Thirty 10mm round and forty fusion cells are all the ammo I've brought to keep weight down...my patchwork leather armor and raider pieces are heavy but offer more protection then plain clothes. I should have a clear path to the road where I spotted the Plant, hopefully.  

As we crossed the bridge the skies cleared to a sunny canvas of blue with white wisps. Here's hoping that's a good sign. Dogmeat is eager to get moving so here we go.

10:19 AM: Saw a pack Brahman like the one trashcan Carla has blow past me on the road, right near the billboard where I had made camp the other night when I met her. I hope she's ok.

No sooner had the thought passed through my mind I saw one of those molerats slither by me in the brush. Pulling my knife I lost track of it as I noticed several mongrel dogs behind us at the junction of the streets.Switching to my musket I shot one in the torso and took it down, then switched back to my knife as a second one rushed me. Five or six bloody stabs later it was dead at my feet, the third one dispatched by dogmeat. Just as I started to catch my breath I noticed the molerat coming back, it's sights set on dogmeat. Pulling Nora I popped off a round and took it's head off. Harvested two chunks of dog meat, one chunk of molerat meat and some teeth. Also found a single bottle cap, and a fuse near their bodies.

10:40 AM: Was jumped by a smaller bloodbug, maybe a hatchling, and dispatched it with my knife. Took a scratch or two, nothing too bad. Also found three wild corn plants on a small hill near the storage buildings of the Starlight's movie screen...some more food for the trip can't hurt.  Stopped by the cooking spit at the Starlight to cook up the meat that I had, not sure when I'll get a chance again. 

11:02 AM: Made it to Lexington, so far no one here. It’s oddly familiar but unrecognizable all rolled together. Like a dreamy Déjà vu. There’s another Red Rocket and Slocum's Joes near a parking lot where I've entered town. Going to scout then out...

11:53 AM: Slowcum's Joe looked like I remembered it, only with all the windows blown out and most of the booths destroyed. The booth I preferred was still there, straight from the doors on the left in the back, but I passed on taking a seat.  A quick search turned up some plates and mugs, a few caps in register, a hot plate, toaster and coffee pot as well as a stash of 21 caps stash.  Moving into the kitchen I found a dried up sweet roll, another hot plate, a box of Fancy Lads, and 2 Nuka colas along with a cake pan.  It’s hard to resist the urge to try and just take everything now that I see the value in anything…but I have to keep my weight in check.

With nothing on the ground level I pulled Nora, switched on my Pip-Boy’s green light, and headed into the basement.  It seemed to have faired better then the rest of the shop.  Picked up a few brown bottles and a  tato in a cooler from the counter in the center of the room.  Found a bobby pin, gas canister, and a sequin dress in a suitcase under a dressed skeleton.  Someone who died that day.  Sweeping the room I only took a small  selection of junk: a bunch of bottles and tin cans and two boxes of abraxo cleaner on a shelf.  As I turned from the shelf I saw the clock on wall said 9:48, it seems to hold my gaze. As I was looking at it I somehow noticed the shelf to my right was odd, off somehow.  Upon closer examination there appeared to be a elevator call button between it and the next shelf the cleaner boxes were on. I pulled on the odd shelf and it swung open like a door!  Unfortunately the closed elevator behind that seemed out of order and pressing the button did nothing. I’ll have to investigate later...

Leaving the basement I headed upstairs but only found a collapsed celling  I can see the gaping hole Slocum's donut character sign still happily holding his steaming cup of coffee eternally above his head, as if nothing happened. Beyond it was just blue sky..nothing more. 

I’m heading across the street to the Red Rocket...

12:19 PM: Not much here. There is an armor workbench outside and inside I found a plastic bottle coolant and a combination wrench on counter as well some turpentine in a  knocked over cabinet.  I went ahead and snagged another coffee pot from small table in the corner by the door.  These things are usefull when broken down.  As I turned to leave I saw clock on the wall here also reads what looks like about 9:48.  I remember where we were that day too…

There’s not much here and I'm getting thirsty. Going to drink some water and move out.

12:32PM: Noticed a Faded Glory Laundromat across the street that was still standing, its door unlocked, but I stopped before going in. I need to find the Corvega Plant, can’t take chances on buildings hiding God knows what. 

1:37 PM: Just as I was deciding on which direction to go we were attacked by four people…or at least I thought they were people. They rushed us from an alley just around the corner from the laundry mat scrambling on feet and hands like animals.  As they charged screeching I used my musket to take down all four of them one by one with dead-on shots to the chest while Dogmeat distracted them from his forward position.   As we approach the alley they from the smell hit us: a mixture of decay and unwashed bodies.  Before I could get a good look at them three more jumped down from the walkway above. I took them down with the musket while dogmeat attacked and we stood ready for several silent minutes after they were dead just to be sure it was over..

These must be those feral ghouls Preston told me about, he failed to mention how quick and terrifying they are. After taking a minute to catch my breath I began to loot their corpses and got my first good look at them.  Their flesh is…desiccated.  Like a display of an ancient Egyptian mummy in a museum, but not all dried up.  Brown and red with beef-jerky like wrinkles of skin, most were missing their noses and lips.  Ghouls is a pretty accurate description, like undead from a scary movie.  I can’t imagine how they could be anything more then deranged animals, but Preston said some are just like normal people.

Going to see if I can push through the smell and see what they had on them.  By the loots of their tattered clothes I’ll wager its not much…

2:49 PM: Trying to not breath through my nose I search them and my initial suspicions were correct.  Only came up with twenty .38 rounds, a shot glass, silver pocket watch, a tin can, a wooden child’s block, a tablespoon and a total of seventeen bottle caps. Even though they jumped us, literally, I'm feeling like I'm more alert and aware of my surroundings…like that call button in the basement of Slokom Joe's, I'm noticing little things better than I had just a week ago. (Level 8: + 1 PER)

As I was finishing looting the corpses dogmeat alerted me with a bark. He led me back to a small shop behind the Red Rocket, looks like it could've been a clothing store, and howled at the register on the counter.  Inside was $400 in cash, I guess he thought we could use it? Good boy!

As we left the shop I noticed that there was a power armor station behind the Red Rocket and a weapon workbench. If I had the time and materials I could make use of these but not now.  At least it’s nice to know that they're here. I need to continue following my way point towards the Plant.

3:19 PM: We found the Corvega Assembly Plant and took cover behind a cement support for the freeway high above our heads. Using my musket scope I scouted two raiders near an elevated doorway across from my location, and another on some stairs above that leading to the roof of the Plant. Not wanting to alert them I backed off and we search the surrounding ruins but did’t find much to find other then another weapon workstation and a lot of bombed out rooms with missing walls and crumbling staircases. I'm going to try to get higher to get a better vantage point on my target.

3:41 PM: From the fourth floor of a bombed out building I was able to view the Pant’s main entrance clearly. Leaning against a railing on the stairs near the door I saw the first raider I has spotted earlier. and just below him was…a machine gun turret. It’s a Mark One, like the one we have back at Sanctuary. Great.  I need to pull back and formulate a plan.

4:56 PM: Not wanting to draw attention to myself I decided to double back to Slocum Joe's and then down the street right past a parking garage I saw when entering the city.   We made our way cautiously towards the Super-Duper Mart. Sensing that there was probably someone, or something, living in the old building Dogmeat and I circled around the side of the structure picking up some empty milk bottles, a Nuka-Cola, and examining a Port-a-Diner on our way. (Most of the food was rotted but it still had it’s logo on it: “Authentic diner experience"!)

As we squeezed through the gap between the parking garage and the side of the Super-Duper Mart leading to its rear I noticed a makeshift bridge of 2x4s connecting a hill to an old cargo container. Dogmeat barked, alerting me that he found something, and led me inside of the open green container. There was a destroyed mattress with a nude male mannequin on top and a straw pillow nearby on the ground. Just beyond that was a locked wooden crate. It was a simple lock and once inside I found one of those monster’s large clawed hands, a RadAway, and a dirty toothbrush. Every little bit counts, so I took them all.

5:36 PM: I'm now at the rear side of the Super-Duper Mart near two loading bay doors, a control terminal is on the wall but it's well beyond my abilities. I’m feeling peckish and a little parched so I'm going to go ahead and make a meal here of a mutt chop, some water, and the potato crisps I’d been holding onto. There's an open field leading to a bombed out building and some more intact ones passed some rusted semi trailers. I’m thinking maybe will make our way across that and use the dead trees as cover. I want to circle around to the other side of the Plant and scout out more of the raider’s operation.  First we need to eat...

8:43 PM: From a small patch of burn trees I was using my scope to survey the bombed out building just north of the Super-Duper Mart’s loading area. On the roof of the building behind it I noticed what looked like a cook pot near an open grill, and I have the feeling that somebody was using it as a base.  With the sun setting we slowly made our way across the field, open and exposed, and then I saw them: Raiders on the rooftop!

I managed to get one shot off with the musket and hit before he returned fire. We pulled back to the trees and after missing with two more shots I stowed my musket and pulled out Nora. Two shots later and he fell backwards onto the rooftop dead. Switching back to the musket I scoped the roof and saw no signs of movement. Continuing cautiously we crossed the field again, keeping an eye on a doorway at the top of stairs at the rear of the middle building. I noticed that an alleyway between the bombed building and the middle one that had the raider on top of it had tin cans strung up to alert them of any intruders. Smart. As I was crossing through the back area of the buildings I saw a raider walk over a wooden bridge connecting the second building to another bombed out third one. He never saw my shot and fell silently.

Expecting more close quarters firefighting I switch to Nora and slowly ascended the metal stairs towards the blue door in the rear of the middle building. Holding my breath I opened the door and peering through saw that the second-story floor had collapsed inward providing a steep ramp to the lower level. I could see through a hole in the first story wall to my right down to the tin cans strung up in the alleyway below. Just as I was about to stand I saw a machine gun turret through the window across for me. Staying down I quietly switching to my musket and slowly cranked it up. Carefully I aimed for the combat inhibitor on the back of the turret, just like we had been trained in the service, firing once and taking it out an explosion of sparks and twisted metal.

Retreating back down the stairs I cranked up my musket but there were no sign of where the remaining raiders were other then their shouts and taunts. After a few minutes I ascended the stairs again, musket ready, and entered the second floor skirting around the perimeter of the sagging floor. As I slowly made my way through the building the sky turned dark with the setting sun and I could hear a storm coming. It had the echoey sound of the radiation storm earlier in the week and I could feel my skin tingling, not what I needed! I crossed the makeshift bridge to the third building where I sniped the raider from the ground, his corpse half dangling through a hole in the floor. On a table was some jet which I grabbed and a safe with a lock to complex for my skills.  With the sky a angry-bruised green-gray above me I crossed another little bridge and grabbed some shotgun shells out of an ammo box before looting the dead raider nearby. The moment I touched him his corpse slipped into the floor’s gaping hole. I grab his glow-sited automatic pipe rifle and hopped down through the opening to get to his body. On him he had fourteen .38 rounds of ammo, a carrot, and raider armor over some road leathers. I took everything for now and made my way into the corner of the room where the ceiling above was still intact and provided some shelter. I'm going to wait the storm out here.

10:51 PM: Once the sky had cleared I exited the room through the destroyed wall and saw some corpses of ghouls in the street.  Just as I started to approach them another unseen turret opened fired catching Dogmeat in the side. Thankfully it could target me from it's cubbyhole and I readied my musket as I made my way down an alley between the two buildings. My plan was to drop through the hole in the second-story floor again and take out the second turret from behind. When I got up there I realized it was too risky, if I jumped down I wouldn't be able to get back up, so I went back down the stairs and into the next alley with the hanging cans to see if I can get a better shot. That was the right idea and taking aim at this one’s combat inhibitor with the musket I took it down with two shots while Dogmeat barked angrily as it exploded.

It was getting dark so I quickly looted the feral ghouls of their bottle caps, a fuse, and some dog tags, then made my way back into the structure where the second turret was. Scattered among its remains were some 5.56 rounds, an enhanced targeting card, power relay coil, and some more fuses. This stuff will be extremely useful back home! I also went ahead and “disarmed" the tin can chimes, gathering quite a few cans for scrap, before making my way back up the stairs to see if I could find out how to get to the rooftop.

There were some more stairs to the roof top of the first building past the initial turret’s position and once up there I saw there was indeed a cookpot and and old rusted grill. I also found a box with two Med-X in it.

I'm standing here now, looking out on the ruined city. it's great highways twist through it high above with rusted vehicle scattered about like children's toys. The Corvega Plant is lit up in the distance and, despite all of the destruction, there's a certain beauty to it all. I can't help but imagine how terrifying it must have been the day the bombs fell while we were descending into our own hell in Vault 111. I'm going to toss this raider off the roof, rest here for a little while, and gather my thoughts.  It's dark and I need to figure out what my plan is.

11:00 PM: Strapped a double barrel shotgun and my laser musket to Dogmeat for him to carry.  Going to use the glow cited automatic sniper rifle since I found on the raider since I'm running low on fusion cells. I’m also running low on water and it's getting darker by the minutes, I don't think I'm going to find anywhere to sleep tonight...

11:25 PM: Thank God! Just when I'd lost hope of finding anywhere to sleep I stumbled across the old Mystic Pines Nursing Home! I remember Nora and I always commenting on how we would never let ourselves be put up in a place like this when we are older.  Ironic that I'm considering myself lucky to be curling up in one of the old beds here now.  I suppose I am two centuries old. Going to get a full night’s sleep and then in the morning reassess the situation. Thinking I can stash a lot of the armor that I found in the dresser of this small room to keep light and then scout the Plant from it’s side or rear. Maybe I can pick off some of the raiders from cover as well. Well, I figure it out tomorrow, right now I'm exhausted.