Steel Waste

Afton was struggling to remain calm and rational in this situation, the man had just admitted to wiping out the town as if it were nothing much... He knew it was best to just gather as much information from him as possible before hurrying back to the Mojave Outpost to report what'd happened... Still, he couldn't help but imagine what shooting this man in his face would feel like.

"What's this 'Lottery' you ran..." he asks after a moment of silence.​​

"Oh, that? One of my more entertaining schemes... The town outnumbered us greatly, so we simply disbursed lottery tickets among the inhabitants. Winners get to live, losers, well, you've already seen them. Watching the townsfolk fight amongst each other instead of us was enlightening I must say." they say, proud at what he'd managed to do.

Afton shakes his head and glances at Karl, receiving a nod. They'd both heard enough from this mad-man and decided to leave. But before they do, he asks one last thing. "What's your name."

"Vulpes Inculta, leader of the Frumentarii. Be sure to let anyone you come across know of what occurred here." he says, waving his hand in the air and beginning to walk east.

Afton and Karl watch them as they leave, once they're out of sight they draw their weapons and put the sorry souls on the crosses out of their misery. They gather all the corpses and burn them to prevent predators from infesting the town, all the while gathering any NCR dog tags they can find.

They would attempt to find survivors but both doubted the Legion would have left any... Besides, it was more imperative that the report back to Ghost to let her know about what'd happened here. Not just to warn them, but show that the Legion could indeed reach this far into NCR territory.

The backtrack through the Giant Ant covered road and made back to the Outpost after an hour or so of walking. They stride under the feet of the statue and walk to Ghost who's waiting on the roof of the Barracks.

"What was it? You find anything?" she quickly asks, putting down her scoped hunting rifle.

Afton nods gravely, "The Legion massacred Nipton, killed almost everyone there and nailed the rest to crosses." he states coldly

...

Ghost's mouth opens but no words come out, a shakey hand pulls off her sunglasses to reveal her widening eyes. "Is... Is this true?"

Karl gives a small nod, "Vulpes Inculta is the one responsible."

Ghost suddenly slams her and down on the table she's propped her weapon on, "DAMN IT! FUCK! Why did no one listen to me!? I knew something was off when our men never returned!"

"You knew NCR troops would go there to fuck and gamble?" Afton asks in disbelief, shouldn't the NCR keep better control of their men? That's how the Brotherhood functioned at least.

Ghost nods, "Look around you, there's fuck all to do around here. We let the men waste their paychecks on getting laid to ease the tensions around, but... We never expected THIS. I need to inform Jackson, take this for risking your lives."

"Wait." he stops her, reaching behind him and untying the large head of the ant queen and handing it to her, "Give this to him aswell, send our regards." he says.

Ghost looks at it for a moment before hurrying off, lifting it onto her shoulder due to its rather heavyweight.

With that, time stops. Afton was more or less familiar with such a sensation at this point and simply glanced in front of him where a screen appeared.

[WELCOME TO LEVEL 9]

[WELCOME TO LEVEL 10]

[WELCOME TO LEVEL 11]

Immediately he receives to level ups, he didn't know why the system prevented him from levelling sometimes, but assumed it was due to completing a quest? Or perhaps getting to safety? He'd need to look into it further to understand.

As of now, he had 45 skills points to use and wasn't all to sure what to do with them... He could max out Speech and see what bonus he'd get from it, or he could try another skill... Shaking his head, he decides to just max Speech and start putting points into Repair.

[Perk gained! : Spies Guise]

[Spies Guise] : People are unnaturally willing to give up information they wouldn't otherwise.

Knowledge flooded his mind, the correct way to act in certain situations, etiquette from lost civilisations bored themselves into his memory, even pickup lines were counted among the information. Afton wasn't too sure why he needed to know what "Lok-Tar Ogar" meant...

The perk was rather underwhelming if he were honest... But that's to be expected from the Speech Skill... Next he's presented with the possible Perks he could choose from.

[Here and Now] : You instantly level up again. This was dogshit and a waste of a Perk.

[Finesse] : +5% Critical Chance. Good but not mindblowing, he had his eye on a Perk from the previous levels which would probably be better than this.

[Night Person] : +2 Intelligence and +2 Perception between 6:00 P.M. and 6:00 A.M. Good but situational...

These Perks didn't interest him all that much, so, after a moment of thought he decided to go with [Quick Draw] instead. He could already draw his weapons quicker than most people, but with this he'd probably be able to get a shot off before they could blink.

He confirms his choice but is interrupted when another notification pops up.

[WELCOME TO LEVEL 12]

He raises a brow at this, did it wait until he chose a Perk from the previous level before letting him level again? It made sense as if it did it all in one go he'd be able to get multiple more advanced Perks...

Regardless, he now had an extra 15 skill points to spend. He deposits them all into Repair and continues onto Perks.

[Fast Metabolism] : +20% Hit Points restored with stimpaks. Useful but Afton didn't really know how else the Perk would affect his body... The toughness perk literally hardened his skin, and this would likely increase the amount of food he'd have to eat. Something to consider but not amazing.

[Life Giver] : +30 hit points. Short but sweet... He wasn't really sure how hit points correlated to his actual health, regardless it was something to keep an eye on.

[Sniper] : 25% more likely to hit the target's head in V.A.T.S. This was amazing, he didn't use VATS all that much as he could more or less handle himself without it, but if he ever needed a "boost" this would be life saving.

Without much hesitation, he picked [Sniper]. He could already imagine himself fanning the hammer of his revolver and head shotting many people from a huge distance... Time resumed and he quickly recollected himself.

He took a glance at his Pipboy as he and Karl made their way to the bar, both could use a drink after what they'd seen in Nipton.

Afton Parker

Level : 12

S.P.E.C.I.A.L :

Strength : 7

Perception : 7

Endurance : 7

Charisma : 4

Intelligence : 6

Agility : 7

Luck : 4

Skills :

Barter : 21

Energy Weapons : 55

Explosives : 20

Guns : 100

Lockpick : 10

Medicine : 40

Melee Weapons : 38

Repair : 60

Science : 44

Sneak : 20

Speech : 100

Survival : 30

Unarmed : 30

Perks :

[Trigger Discipline], [Heavy Handed], [Rapid Reload], [Torture Techniques], [Educated], [John Wick Style], [Toughness], [Stonewall], [Bug Stomper], [Lord Death v1], [Spies Guise], [Quick Draw]

Companion Perks :

[Old Wisdom]