Overseer: Vault 18 (Fallout)

[Pyritr]

Voting closed! By unanimous vote, the winner is:

[X] Plan Stockpile
-[X] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads. (Security)
-[X] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads. (Health and Life Support)
-[X] Read through the backlog of reports from one department. (Hydroponics)
-[X] Read through the backlog of reports from one department. (Manufacturing)
-[X] Take time to respond to the messages and smooth things over.

And here goes the rolls!:

Spoiler: Rolls

[dice]21992[/dice]
[dice]21993[/dice]

Spoiler: Misclick

[dice]21994[/dice]

[dice]21995[/dice]
[dice]21996[/dice]
[dice]21997[/dice]

 

[Pyritr]

(Also, it's past time for this.
And after review, starting Science skill is actually at 48, so the above 42 rolls both passed!)

You just leveled up! Welcome to Level 2 (Vault Scion) Skill points to spend: 19
Small Guns	25%
Big Guns	10%
Energy Weapons	10%
Unarmed	48%
Melee Weapons	48%
Throwing	20%
First Aid	22%
Doctor	16%
Sneak	20%
Lockpick	19%
Steal	15%
Traps	19%
Science	48%
Repair	21%
Barter	58%
Speech	60%
Gambling	35%
Outdoorsman	24%

Points spent in highlighted skills are doubled.

[ ] Dump all your points into one skill (Write in)
[ ] Split points between two skills, spending the odd point on the lower skill (Write in two)
[ ] Split points between three skills, spending the odd point on the lower skill (write in three)
[ ] Write in a custom distribution

 

[BENNYJETS]

[ x] Split points between three skills, spending the odd point on the lower skill (write in three)

Science (hacking may become very neccessary)
Unarmed (some dwellers aren't going to be happy with our decision, they might retaliate)
Sneak (If we ever need to get away from the watchful eyes of our security department to hack something for example, this is very useful)

 

[Loveschach]

[X] Split points between three skills, spending the odd point on the lower skill (write in three)
-[X]Science
-[X]Barter
-[X]Speech

It's not for max gains, but because of what our position is. We are the overseer. We need barter and speech to handle our own people, and to prepare for contact with the outside. We need science so we can track down the source of our issues, and possibly circumvent it. When we start working on actual fighting, I'd say work on Melee and Small Guns.

 

[Pyritr]

Last call for a tiebreaker vote. Otherwise I will flip a coin for each of the skills not agreed on.

 

[R.A.G.]

Threadmarks are out of order.
Since we've got years of extra food, maybe redirect parts from hydroponics towards sewage to make sure we aren't swimming in shit.

[X] Split points between three skills, spending the odd point on the lower skill (write in three)
-[X]Science
-[X]Barter
-[X]Speech

We need social fuckery and science rn, since we're doing the equivalent of sending a man to the moon. So focusing on that.

 

[Pyritr]

Voting Closed! The winning vote is to keep focus on your strengths:

[X] Split points between three skills, spending the odd point on the lower skill (write in three)
-[X]Science
-[X]Barter
-[X]Speech

This will increase Barter and Speech by 12, and Science by 14 as I will generally put spare points in the lowest of nominated skills.

This brings Speech up to 72, Barter up to 70, and Science up to 62.

As for diverting spare parts, the best way to do that that would probably require either a meeting of all departments or a private meeting with the head of manufacturing. Alternatively, you could call a smaller meeting with the heads of Manufacturing, Hydroponics, and Waste.

Alternatively, you could just issue a memo and not spend an action on it, but that may hurt your reputation and upset some of your department heads.

As you're reviewing both departments this turn, I'll include information about what Hydroponics can spare in your results.

I'll see about sorting out threadmarks.

 

[R.A.G.]

I don't suppose we could get some kinda filter plants to help with the waste? I dunno, maybe we'll end up with partially organic plumping.

 

[Pyritr]

As you assembled your thoughts, a clear plan of action came together in your mind. First and foremost, you scheduled a meeting with Nicole. She answered that she was already on her way, and a few minutes later she was announced by your secretary and admitted into your office.

"I'm glad to see that at least you've got your priorities straight, Overseer," she said as she sauntered up to your desk. "Security's on high alert, thanks to you. It's been months since the vault's been this agitated."

You watch her expression carefully as she chides your actions. The woman gives no sign about her own opinion on the matter. So you ask. "Are you going to tell me not to go through with it?"

She sputtered and shook her head. "Hell no. The only thing worse than making a big, controversial change is making a big announcement that you're going to do it, and then changing your mind. That," she pointed at you. "Is how riots start. And riots are a horrible mess I don't want to deal with. So let's talk about how to manage this situation and avoid them."

She tells you that she's stepping up the level of security alert, and you spend about an hour going over what that means. She explains that she'll be stationing a second vault security officer outside of your office as well, and that she's getting someone to keep an eye on Nick as well, as you're both the focus of the current 'crisis',

"So…" you shift topics a bit. "I also want to discuss arranging for some protection for Nick while he's out there."

Nichole nods. "That makes sense. I can see about issuing him a 10mm pistol and maybe scrounge up an old armored vault suit that fits him. And we can spare a bit of ammo to give him some range time."

You nod. "That would be good. I'd also like to discuss possibly… a small security detail?"

Her expression darkens at that. "You… want me to ask one of my officers to… volunteer for early retirement?" She shook her head. "Respectfully, Overseer, I'm not going to do that. You can make your own appeal for volunteers if you want, but I'm not going to be a part of it. People take my requests as orders."

You sigh. So much for that idea. "Maybe we could let them out and back in in shifts? Like, only Nick is really retired, and they're just keeping an eye on him?"

She looks a bit shocked at this idea, her jaw hanging open for a moment. Then she shuts it with a sharp 'click'. "This is the first time you've run a retirement, so it makes sense that you might not have realized," she says, more to herself than you.

Putting out both hands vertically in the air, she waves them a little to draw your attention. "Ok, so imagine this hand," she wiggles her left hand a little. "Is the inner vault door. And this hand," she wiggles the other "is the outer vault door. This one," she wiggles the hand representing the inner vault door," we have control over. We can open and close it whenever we want. But this one," she wiggled the other hand "From what we can tell, it only opens when there's a pending retiree in between the doors."

Shit. You turn to your terminal and quickly look through the records of the vault's residents, finding the oldest one. Agatha Walsh.

She retires February 9th. In 40 days. If what Nichole says is true, Nick would be out there for more than a month before any backup could be sent. Before you could even find out what happened to him, or bring in any materials.

"Does it… have to be a retiree?" you asked.

Your security chief looks away at that, eyes searching the corners of her vision. "I… don't know if anyone's ever tried. I… guess we can open and close this side whenever we want, so we could give it a try. But I'm not volunteering."

At that point, you wrap up your meeting. You're left with something new to think about. The vault's feelings about retirement haven't shifted overnight, and so getting a security detail for Nick won't be easy. But you feel like you've made progress.

It isn't long before Doctor Sam Reynolds, the head of Health & Life Support, arrives in your office.

Sam always had the aura of a meticulous professional, even when he was just your upper-classman in school. You remember him actually teaching a few science classes for your cohort when the main science teacher was having a baby. It doesn't surprise you at all to find his labcoat with barely a wrinkle as it hangs over his vault jumpsuit.

He takes a seat opposite you, and looks at you expectantly over steepled fingers. "I've submitted my report on the records for the cholera outbreak, Overseer," he starts in without preamble. "It was an interesting little project. I was actually annoyed when my work on it was interrupted this morning by the need to respond to a patient with a broken nose from a fist fight."

Sam raised his eyebrows, pointing a finger at you. "That was how I heard about what happened last night. You certainly are starting your career as Overseer off with a bang, aren't you?"

You nod, sighing. You really hoped that it was just the initial shock of it people were responding to, and that they'd calm down after a while. "I suppose so. Honestly, Sam, I just couldn't bring myself to just… kick Nick out of the vault without some kind of support. And while I'm interested in your report, that's more what I called this meeting about. I wanted to talk about what we could do for Nick to help him survive out there."

You caught a gleam in Sam's eye, as his mind eagerly rose to the intellectual challenge of a new problem. It occurred to you that surprises were probably rare in vault health.

"We of course don't have a great deal of direct information about the Annihilated World. Our historical records go on at some length about the war between America and Communist China, but are fairly vague about what happened, other than apparently atomic weapons were used in great numbers."

You nod, familiar with the history but knowing better than to interrupt Sam when he got rolling.

These weapons, as I understand them, would break apart in their explosions, carrying the radioactive materials they were composed of across great distances."

His fingers danced over his pip-boy as he pulled up notes. "My Medical references contain some information about radiation sickness. It can be caused by mere presence in the area of radioactive materials, though ingestion of such materials is significantly deadlier. Primary symptoms are muscle weakness, hair loss, the appearance of bruises or burns on the skin or internally, internal bleeding, fever, low blood pressure, weakened immune response leading to infections, and in extreme cases, widespread cell death."

You wince. Was that the fate so many of your ancestors had walked into? Your parents…

Shaking your head to clear it, you latch back onto the conversation. "So what can we do to protect Nick from that radiation?"

Sam flicks through the controls to bring up another note. "A hazardous materials suit is recommended for protection in the presence of radiation. I don't have one of those among my equipment, but perhaps Power Systems would. What I can prescribe is Rad-X to fortify the body against radiation, and RadAway to cleanse it from the system after exposure. I have a small supply of each, as there hasn't been much call for it over the years, and we can produce more in our lab, though not quickly or in large amounts. I should probably add those to the rotation of medicines we routinely synthesize."

"Could we increase the rate of medicine production?" you ask.

Sam nods. "I suppose we could step it up, if hydroponics somewhat redirected their stock, and we assigned a permanent lab assistant position. Between training and grow time, that would likely take at least a month to see results. Beyond that, we'd be talking about producing more lab equipment, which would require significant manufacturing resources, and assigning additional staff." He looks up from his screen, a bit of remembered stress seeping into his features. "I've barely been able to keep our current equipment in stock, so I imagine that might be a tall order."

"Let's start with maximizing the equipment we have," you agree.

A Spoonful of Sugar The vault currently produces one chem per week, in line with the shallow demand. You've elected to step up production to one chem per day, by diverting some Hydroponics production to chem production.

"So what can we spare for Nick?"

That sends Sam back to his Pip-boy, doubtlessly pulling up his inventory. "I insist on holding on to at least a few doses of radaway, in case of an unlikely emergency. I believe I can put together a bottle of a dozen Rad-X tablets, along with eight bags of RadAway. If Nick needs more than that before he can establish a secure shelter, I'm not sure this plan will be viable at all. I can also assemble a first aid kit for him and give him a crash course on its use, and include a handful of stimpacks for medical emergencies."

He scrolled through his inventory list. "Perhaps a small bottle of buffout and a few med-X syringes as well, since Nick seems reasonable enough not to abuse either. Hmmm…" He nods. "I hadn't really thought about it, but we also have a significant supply of water purification tablets. I believe my long-retired predecessor must have had them produced after the cholera crisis."

"That sounds like it would be useful," you say. It would be a lot easier to rely on Nick finding a source of water out there than to try to send him out with gallons and gallons of it strapped to his back.

You turn to your terminal, and pull up the report the doctor had filed on the outbreak. Glancing through it, you quickly pick out a highlight of his report. "Gunshot wounds?" you mutter halfway to yourself.

"Yes, I thought you might find that interesting," he says, leaning back. "Nearly a dozen vault residents were treated for gunshot wounds, stab wounds, broken bones, and other such trauma. Clear evidence of a level of violence quite beyond my experience." He closes his eyes for a moment, taking in a deep breath before letting it out. "You'll note that I checked the reported deaths from that period as well. Nearly every single one was reported as death by cholera, with no hint of violence."

He leans forward, looking you directly in the eyes. "I highly doubt that whatever incident resulted in so many injuries had a one hundred percent survival rate. I don't know why, but I highly suspect my predecessor falsified her records to conceal evidence of this disturbance. But for that to be the case, that implies that there was a widespread effort to conceal this from the vault population at large. Otherwise what would the point of this deception be?" He waved his finger as he led you through this line of speculation.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out, Sam," you explain, sinking in your chair a little. Sam was clever, and he was going to figure this out anyway, so you decided you may as well let him in on the secret. "I believe that the cholera outbreak, and the… fighting, were caused by a previous Overseer trying to keep a retired person inside the vault."

Sam nods in comprehension. "I'd started to suspect something like that. I suppose that there was a disagreement about it, like the one that provoked a fistfight this morning, only moreso? Causing damage to the water purification system somehow?"

"It was worse than that," you say, shaking your head gravely. "The vault is set up to start shutting down systems if a pending retirement isn't processed within a week. I'm fairly certain the Cholera outbreak happened because the Water Purification system shut down."

Sam grits his teeth. "I see. And can I then gather that this fact is why you are going forward with the compromise of attempting to give Nick support on the outside rather than attempting to keep him past his retirement?"

You nod. "There has to be more that we can do for people who retire. I understand all the arguments, about vault population and fresh ideas and so on, but we have to be able to do more for them than throw them out there, alone, to never hear from them again."

"I couldn't agree more," Sam says, "And I'm excited to see where this goes. But we absolutely need to make sure we're not putting the vault population at risk."

Bringing that meeting to a close, you take a break for lunch before diving into the logs of the hydroponics and manufacturing departments.

The hydroponics logs, unsurprisingly, make no mention of Reefer production. You'll need to talk to David more if you want to ferret out more information about that. But otherwise he's done a decent enough job of keeping his records up to date, though not without some colorful commentary about what plants go into his favorite snack foods.

Hydroponics produces some fresh fruit and vegetables, but most of their stock is rendered down into base substances, which the vault's kitchen systems can later render into various foodstuffs. Looking through the storage manifest, you quickly get an idea of what your food stockpile looks like.

Hydroponics production 1 unit of food = 1 month's supply for the average vault dweller. 500 units of food produced per month. (475 after increased chem production.) 5 unit of chem stock produced per month. (Increasing to 30, diverting production from food) 12,640 units of food in stock. (2.28 years supply)

You notice that some of the food stockpile records list certain containers as mysteriously having been damaged and spoiled, with no commentary. It occurs to you that this is likely what David does when he trades some excess food for something. Given that there is still a significant stockpile, you don't see much point in bringing this up.

You put in an order to prepare two month's supply of dehydrated food for Nick. If he can find a source of water out there, between that and the water purification tablets he should be able to make do.

Then you turn to manufacturing, looking through Paula Reynolds' notes. You pretty quickly start to get a picture of how the flow of materials moves through the vault, in a series of requisition orders being issued, fulfilled, delayed, or denied.

You aren't surprised to find a number of delayed and denied production orders issued by Greg Bauman from Waste Management. Hydroponics, on the other hand, seems to get nearly everything they need. You have good reason to suspect why.

Manufacturing requests	requests	(last month)
Department	Issued	Fulfilled	Delayed	Denied
Maintenance	107	85	20	2
Water	24	21	3	0
Waste	168	52	18	98
Power	71	65	5	1
Security	36	33	3	0
Hydroponics	54	54	0	0
Distribution	135	108	17	10
Morale&Education	29	22	5	1
Health*LS	42	34	7	1

You quickly sort out how the requisition forms work, and put in a high priority requisition for a set of tools Nick could use to hopefully make some basic shelter for himself and start finding supplies to bring back to the vault. It's going to cause someone's requisition to be delayed, but given the circumstances you feel that this takes priority.

Finally, with all that out of the way, you turn to the messages sent in by the various vault citizens, and put your mind to making sure that this doesn't turn into another civil war.

From: Stephen Abbott Subject: An end to dignity Whatever happened to the respect for our vault's traditions? The latest generation of leadership has clearly sunk to an appalling low. When I was your age, young man, I understood that my work in this vault was built on over a century of perseverance, but apparently you'd rather throw all of that away! Nick Hesting deserved a dignified retirement, in due course, and his friends and family deserved the closure that offers. But instead you disrupted that solemn ceremony and plan to send that man out there with the promise that he will return. And not only that, but you've convinced him to spend whatever last moments will be left to him toiling uselessly, to ensure that when he succumbs, it won't be with a sense of well-earned peace, but with regret.'

From: Tiffany Hall Subject: Glad someone did something I want to commend you for your courage, Overseer. I've been saying for years that this whole retirement business was a waste, and didn't make sense, but no one would listen. But now that you're doing something about it, they won't have much choice but to pay attention, will they? Don't let these idiots tell you what to do. If anything, you should take this further. Surely we could postpone retirements for another ten years or so, to keep people in the vault a bit longer? Surely we can go a few more years before we're too much of a medical burden!'

From: Christine Marshalls Subject: Repair Priorities If Nick is going to be bringing in new materials, does that mean that we'll finally have the resources to repair the old arcade terminals that have broken down? Only about half of them work, and they've been saying for years that we just can't spare the parts, but I think it would win a lot of people over if you made that a priority with the new stuff.

They go on like that. Over twenty vault citizens saw fit to send you messages, with a couple more coming in as you read through them. You reply to a few of them directly, when you think you've got something to say that might make a difference, and then you put together an open message, intended to show up on every vault citizen's pip-boy.

From: The Overseer Subject: Preparing for the future. My fellow citizens of Vault 18, I have read and heard of your many opinions about my recent actions regarding our old friend Nick Hesting. I first want to set the record straight, as there are a great many rumors being spread that must cease immediately. Nick Hesting was prepared to retire the day after his 45th birthday, last night at midnight, as has always previously been done. However, in light of the ongoing resource crisis I have temporarily delayed Nick's retirement, and asked him to volunteer for a special project. We will provide him with additional food and supplies, and in exchange he will bring whatever materials he can find beyond the vault door back inside once the next retirement is processed. Proceeding retirees will be asked to assist Nick in this effort going forward, but this will remain a voluntary action on their part. I understand that many of you have concerns with this state of affairs. You must understand that my chief concern as your overseer is the continued survival and prosperity of our vault. If preserving vault 18 means that retirement must end, then I will end it. If it means that retirement must continue, I will continue it. This is my duty as Overseer, whatever my personal opinion might be, and I will see it out to the end of my term.

There. They just might buy that. You suppose you'll find out tomorrow. With all that out of the way, you slink off to bed.

---

Sleep doesn't come easily that night. You wake several times to dreams of vault dwellers, people you know, yelling at you as the vault fills with wastewater around them. When you finally get up, get your coffee, and make it back to your terminal, you do your best to reassemble yourself for another challenging day.

Welcome to ROBCO Industries (TM) Termlink Clearance: Overseer Eyes Only Date: January 1st, 2250 Population: 426 Retirements Pending: 1 (!!!) Alert! Priority Message!

Priority message? What could that be? You quickly open it to find out.

CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL OVERSEER EYES ONLY | VIOLATION VTP-01011 Greetings from the past, Overseer! Assuming that you're still alive, and that your vault has not descended into complete illiterate barbarism, congratulations from Vault-Tec! Your efforts, and those of your descendants, has likely been invaluable in our efforts to understand the variables of the equation of human society. Having survived to the pre-determined year of 2250, your vault will now enter phase two of social experimentation! Vault 18's outer vault door has reopened permanently, and cannot be re-sealed. All other directives regarding age of vault leaders and retirement at 45 remain, and will be enforced by the vault's systems. Vault citizens under age 45 will now be free to leave and re-enter the vault, at your discretion. However, any vault citizen above age 45 returning, or any human being lacking a Vault-18 registered Pip-Boy remaining in the vault for longer than a week, will trigger the automated shutdown response. At this late stage of the experiment, we cannot guarantee that the vaults systems will be able to successfully re-initialize after shutdown. Our descendants are assuredly excited to find out how your society will react to these changes!

You take a moment to really absorb that, and slowly manage to close your jaw again. This changes… well, what does it change? It makes your immediate plan with Nick more viable. It looks like Vault-Tec left it in your hands how to explain this to the vault, but of course it will be obvious that the outer door is open as soon as the next retirement is processed.

You look down at your terminal and think about how to respond to this change in circumstances.

[ ] Call a meeting of all department heads. (Takes 2 actions).
[ ] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads. (write in which)
[ ] Read through the backlog of reports from one department. (write in which)
[ ] Walk around, try to get the sense of the vault community.
[ ] Write in a suggestion.

 

[knyght]

[X] Call a meeting of all department heads. (Takes 2 actions).
-[X]Discuss the news and establish security protocols and logistics.
[X] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads.
-[X]Medical: we need to ramp radaway and rad-x production
-[X]Water: we need to lay clean water pipes to the exterior and if possibly reclamation of outside water.

*Edit: i just noticed we are in SFW section which explains why it is so empty here .

 

[LordEdric]

[X] Call a meeting of all department heads. (Takes 2 actions).
-[X]Discuss the news and establish security protocols and logistics.
[X] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads.
-[X]Medical: we need to ramp rad x and xrad production
-[X]Water: we need to lay clean water pipes to the exterior and if possibly reclamation of outside water.


good story, I want to see how far we can build

 

[R.A.G.]

[X] Call a meeting of all department heads. (Takes 2 actions).
-[X]Discuss the news and establish security protocols and logistics.
[X] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads.
-[X]Medical: we need to ramp radaway and rad-x production
-[X]Water: we need to lay clean water pipes to the exterior and if possibly reclamation of outside water.

Hmm, not sure how to sell this to the public. Should we just tell the department heads and let it trickle down from there?

You nod, sighing. You really hoped that it was just the initial shock of it people were responding to, and that they'd calm down after a while. "I suppose so. Honestly, Sam, I just couldn't bring myself to just… kick Sam out of the vault without some kind of support. And while I'm interested in your report, that's more what I called this meeting about. I wanted to talk about what we could do for Nick to help him survive out there."

Click to shrink...

should be 'kick Nick out of the vault'

 

[SparrowInTheSky]

[X] Call a meeting of all department heads. (Takes 2 actions).
- [X] Discuss the news and establish new security protocols.
[X] Walk around, try to get the sense of the vault community.

 

[Pyritr]

Voting Closed! With three votes, the winning plan is

[X] Call a meeting of all department heads. (Takes 2 actions).
-[X]Discuss the news and establish security protocols and logistics.
[X] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads.
-[X]Medical: we need to ramp radaway and rad-x production
-[X]Water: we need to lay clean water pipes to the exterior and if possibly reclamation of outside water.

And now for the rolls!

Spoiler: Rolls

[dice]22205[/dice]
[dice]22206[/dice]
[dice]22207[/dice]

Pretty good rolls, but I've just realized that you guys left off the bonus action you get from the Action Boy perk!

I'm currently counting one vote for the final action being

[X] Walk around, try to get the sense of the vault community.

And I'll give it a few days to see if there are any dissenting votes while I get to work on the rest.
[dice]22544[/dice]

And with voting closed again, that's a success on the speech check.

 

[Pyritr]

The first thing you do is schedule an all-department meeting. Normally there'd be some grumbling about how recently the last one was, but given the circumstances everyone was kind of expecting it.

It doesn't take long before you've got everyone assembled around your desk. Once they've all sat down and the side-conversations have mostly peetered out, you start things off by sending a copy of the highlights of the message you'd received to all their pip-boys.

A moment of silence ensues, during which you do your best to read each of them as they digest the update from Vault-Tec.

"As you can see," you regain their attention. "Life after the vault is about to change. This means that if someone goes out with Nick to keep him safe and help him set things up for himself, they'll be able to come back. And then we could send other people out to keep things going. And it means we can find out what's going on out there a lot sooner than waiting for Nick to pass something through the vault door when it opens."

"And we won't have to wait as long for new resources," Paula cut in, having gained a laser focus from what she'd read.

"There might be other people out there, too," David mused, staring up at the ceiling. "Like… there were tons of other vaults, weren't there? At least 17 others, I guess. What if they're all opening up right now? There'd be… thousands of new people to meet and trade with."

You're pretty sure David is a bit high, but he makes a good point. "That would make sense. Though that also means we'll have to step up security of the vault entrance. And we need to know more about what's going on out there." You look at Nichole.

Your head of Security already looks tired. "You'd better get the vault to quit squabbling, then. My people are already feeling spread thin with the current situation."

"That sounds like a job for Education and Morale," you say, turning your attention to Dwight. "Maybe show some of the old vids that talk about the world before, and talk about how we can find out what happened to it? And… can we make new pictures or vids?"

Dwight considered this, scratching at his beard. "I've got a couple of cameras that still work, but the last vid tapes were filled up like a century ago if I recall correctly. We've still got some photo film and a working dark room, so I could put together a decent slideshow."

You nod, ideas stirring in your head. "Nick is going out tomorrow. I want you to talk up the event. I want everyone who cares about this to be there. It's going to be a community experience."

He narrowed his eyes at you. "I'm not sure all those people will fit in the entry room. We're talking at least a hundred people here. I couldn't fit them all in the vault theater at the same time."

"What about the Atrium?" you ask, turning to look out the big circular window at the central open area of the vault outside of your office. "Could we… wire one of the security cameras in the entrance to a projector, and put it up on one of the big walls?"

Dwight sighs, looking at Nicole. "It's not impossible, necessarily."

Nichole rolls her eyes and nods. "I'll talk to my security nerd about it."

"Sounds like a plan. Now," you turn to Paula. "Can you have the equipment I requisitioned for Nick ready by tomorrow?"

She nods, tapping out a quick message on her Pip-boy. "I've just moved it to the top of the cue."

"Aren't we forgetting about something, in all this excitement?" Greg brought up, flashing you a betrayed look. "Are we ever going to do something about our black water system? Or is the newer, sexier problem going to pull everyone's attention away, like usual?" He huffed, glaring across the table at everyone else.

"I haven't forgotten, Greg," you answer, looking directly at him. "In fact, that's one of the reasons I'm doing this. If we can get more materials back into the vault, that means we'll have more manufacturing capacity and can get you the parts you need."

That seemed to calm the man down. The rest of the meeting goes quickly, as there isn't much new to report outside of the situation with Nick. You talk a bit further about how to get Nick the food supplies he needs, and get Paula to discuss a system for bringing in and incorporating whatever can be found up above.

Finally, you adjourn the meeting early. "Except for Sam and Fred. I've got a bit more to talk about with each of you."

Your office clears, leaving just the heads of Water Purification and Health and Life Support behind, the two looking at each other uncertainly, until Sam breaks the silence. "So… what can we do for you, Overseer?"

"Well, Sam, I wanted to talk to you about ramping up chem production further than what we discussed last night," you explain. "We're likely going to need a lot of Rad-X and Radaway if more people are going to leave the vault in the near future."

"That's going to take materials and personnel," he explains wearily. Glancing over to Fred, he hooks a thumb at his fellow department head. "Mr. Hatch could probably spare a few people from his department, but right now we'd be able to benefit from one more lab assistant at most, to keep the lab cooking around the clock until we can build another one."

Fred sputters, looking offended. "What makes you think I have people to spare?" he asks, glaring at the doctor.

Doctor Reynolds rolls his eyes. "Everyone knows that water purification is the cushiest job in the vault. There's no point in pretending otherwise, Fred."

You look over Fred's expression as he sulks. That isn't the look of someone who wasn't at least aware of this perception. You rub the bridge of your nose. "Alright, Fred, for now go ahead and let Sam poach someone as a lab assistant. And later, we'll need to talk about this." You give him a severe look.

"Fine…" he mutters.

"Also," you say, brightening a little. "I believe I have a project to keep your people a little more busy. I want you to look into supplying clean water to the outside of the vault."

Fred blinks, a bit taken aback. "I can't really run plumbing through the vault door. Maybe we could drill through the rock next to it?" he suggests, but then immediately counters "but wouldn't that make the vault less safe?"

"Perhaps you could install a cistern on the other side, which we could refill manually when we opened the door," Dr. Reynold's suggests. "It wouldn't be perfect, but it would give anyone outside the vault a supply of clean water as long as we kept it topped off."

"Yeah," Fred agrees, nodding. "I guess that would work…"

"Then get on it," you order, smirking. Sometimes problems seemed to line up and fix themselves.

The two of them descend into bickering about personnel, which you cut short by telling Fred to get it sorted out by the end of the day or you'll pick someone to transfer. Then you conclude the meeting, leaning back in your chair as they leave your office.

The new year is really turning things to your favor. Things are looking up.

"Are you ready for dinner, Overseer?" your intercom asks.

You press the button to respond to your receptionist/security guard. "You know what? I'm going to the cafeteria today for dinner," you say, already getting up for a stretch.

"Um… you sure about that, sir?" he asks a bit nervously. "Things have been a bit tense recently."

"Exactly why I need to show that I'm not afraid, and that I'm accessible to the people," you reply, walking over to the big window to look out on the vault, smiling as you watch people walk through the atrium. Then you head to the door and open it, just as Hyland was getting up from his chair. "Come on," you tell him with a wave.

He files in behind you as you make your way confidently out into the Atrium. As you pass out into the main public area, you glance back up at your office, at the circular window that looks down on the vault as the ever-present symbol of the Overseer. Above it, the engraved sign stands between the sides of the vaulted ceiling, proclaiming, as it has for over a century, 'The Young Will Lead The Way'.

You've looked up at that window your whole life, even before it was known that you would one day sit behind that round glass, at the big half-circle desk. Now it's been your reality for a week, and you keep having these moments when you just… realize that again.

You wonder if you'll ever stop feeling like an imposter behind that desk.

Shaking your head, you continue on to the cafeteria.

Inside, you find a string of letters hanging from the ceiling, proclaiming 'Happy New Year!' The booths are mostly full of vault dwellers, enjoying dinner and socialization. More than one of them turn to see you, and more than one conversation stops when they do.

Endeavoring to ignore them, you walk up to the line with everyone else.

A young man with a thin film of closely-trimmed hair tries to step out of line. "Oh, Overseer, uh… go ahead."

"No, no," You shake your head and wave for him to get back in line. After a moment's hesitation, he does.

You make your way fairly quickly through the line, looking back into the kitchen as a couple of vault dwellers work at keeping the trays of food flowing to the food dispensors. It's pasta night, so you ladle up a bowl of freshly-boiled noodles and get to choose between spaghetti and alfredo, along with a piece of toasted bread, and a salad on the side.

Officer Hyland behind you goes for Spaghetti, while you take the alfredo. Then, scanning around the tables and booths of the cafeteria, you spot a pair of older women who seem to be keeping an eye on you, the first signs of wrinkles marking out that they couldn't have long to wait until retirement.

With a bright smile, you make your way over to them. "Are these seats reserved for anyone, ladies?" you ask, gesturing to the booth opposite them.

They share a nervous giggle, and one of them shakes her head, gesturing at the booth. "Go ahead, Overseer," she says. Her blonde hair is done up in a bun behind her head, while her friend's dark hair hangs past her shoulders.

You take your seat, as does your bodyguard. You stir your fork through your pasta with one hand and gesture to the blonde with the other. "I don't think we've been introduced?" you start off.

The blonde introduces herself as Amy Carter, and her friend as Janessa Hopkins. Apparently they both work in Morale and Education; Amy maintains the vault's thin supply of printed materials, and Janessa edits the daily newsletter of notable events.

"Things are usually pretty quiet, honestly." Janessa says. "It's not always easy to find something to write about. But there's been a lot more to keep track of since you took over."

"Like that letter you sent everyone?" says Amy. "Did you really mean that you might put… an end to retirement?" She looks at you searchingly.

"If that's what's best for the vault, yes," you reply, lifting your first bite of food up. "That's not what we're doing right now, though."

The two of them share a look as you chew. Then Janessa speaks up. "You're putting the retirees to work, is what they're saying. A lot of us don't like the idea of that, you know."

You give her a searching look. "Tell me, what do you think Retirement has been like for everyone who went out before?"

"I um…" she hesitated. "I suppose I always imagined it like… like those pictures of the world before, the green floors and the blue ceiling up above. And all the retired people meet up, and you get to fill them in on what's been going on in the vault."

You nod along. That seemed like a happy little image. You even liked imagining it, imagining that you might meet your parents out there some day. Letting out a breath through your nostrils, you slowly shake your head.

"The truth is that we have no idea. No one's ever come back before. But maybe Nick can. He can go out there and come back and leave us a message telling us what it's like."

You smile. "Who knows. Maybe he'll meet up with the others and we can exchange letters."

The rest of dinner passes with more casual conversation, the topic clearly having made the two of them a bit uncomfortable. You head back to your office, feeling like you've made a good impression and sent the right message resonating through the vault.

When it's time for bed, you can barely sleep, and spend more than an hour pacing in your office and thinking. Finally, though, you do manage to drag yourself to bed and pass out for a night cycle.

The next day you roll out of bed onto your feet, the nervous energy and anticipation driving you forward. Today is the big day. Tonight at midnight, Nick Hesting will retire and leave the vault. You've taken care of most of the details, but now that the final hour looms, you sit in front of your terminal and try to think of what last minute preparations you can make.

Welcome to ROBCO Industries (TM) Termlink Clearance: Overseer Eyes Only Date: January 2nd, 2250 Population: 426 Retirements Pending: 1 (!!!)

You take a moment to try to organize your day. There are a number of things you want to get to today, so prioritizing won't be easy.

(One auto selected, choose 4.)
[ ] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads. (write in which)
[ ] Read through the backlog of reports from one department. (write in which)
[ ] Have a final meeting with Nick Hesting
[ ] Go over the equipment Nick will be sent out with.
[ ] Talk one of the security officers into volunteering to go out with Nick.
[ ] Write in a suggestion.
[X] Attend Nick's retirement (auto selected)

 

[krahe]

Kind of depressing. But then again, 'kind of depressing' can safely be one of Fallout's mottoes

[x] Read through the backlog of reports from one department. (write in which)
-[x] Security
-[x] Medical
[x] Have a final meeting with Nick Hesting
[x] Go over the equipment Nick will be sent out with.

 

[knyght]

[X] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads. (write in which)
-[x] Manufacturing: Discuss the possibility of creating plates and a prefab framework to quicky assemble a small outpost building with a couple hardpoints.
-[x] Morale and education: Try to spin the event as positively as possible... pretty much just prevent a riot.
[X] Go over the equipment Nick will be sent out with.
[X] Talk one of the security officers into volunteering to go out with Nick. Try to sell the pitch that any time spent now is an investment for when their time comes and they CAN'T return. If nothing else they will at least know what is out there.




*Edit the universe ate my post

 

[Darkandus]

[x] Read through the backlog of reports from one department. (write in which)
-[x] Security
-[x] Medical
[x] Have a final meeting with Nick Hesting
[x] Go over the equipment Nick will be sent out with.

 

[BENNYJETS]

This is gonna be interesting, I wonder how people will react to the outside world.
[x] Read through the backlog of reports from one department. (write in which)
-[x] Security
-[x] Medical
[x] Have a final meeting with Nick Hesting
[x] Go over the equipment Nick will be sent out with.
​

 

[Ryan Lozano]

[x] Read through the backlog of reports from one department. (write in which)
-[x] Security
-[x] Medical
[x] Have a final meeting with Nick Hesting
[x] Go over the equipment Nick will be sent out with.

 

[Pyritr]

The votes are in! Final vote by 4-1 majority:

Winning vote:
[x] Read through the backlog of reports from one department. (write in which)
-[x] Security
-[x] Medical
[x] Have a final meeting with Nick Hesting
[x] Go over the equipment Nick will be sent out with.

Now the rolls:

Spoiler: Rolls

[dice]22759[/dice]
[dice]22760[/dice]
[dice]22761[/dice]
[dice]22762[/dice]

That's a total failure on medical records, and a close failure on Nick's equipment.

 

[Pyritr]

The first thing you need to do, you decide, is take an inventory of the vault's defenses. With the outer vault door left open, your home is potentially vulnerable. You have no idea what dangers lurk out there, but your small security force and their equipment is all that stands between you and it.

You spend some time looking through the personnel files of the security officers. There are 23 of them in total, including Chief Totra. Pulling up their inventory, you see that the vault has managed to keep just 27 10mm pistols in good working order, a supply that's been dwindling over the last few years. You see that they also have only three hundred rounds in reserve.

Totra also keeps a pair of 10mm submachine guns and a set of six double-barrel shotguns locked up in the armory attached to her office. On top of that, your terminal reports a dozen remote machine-gun turrets, retracted and waiting to be deployed, with four of them in the entrance chamber, and, apparently, two built into your desk.

That's a sobering thought. You can't help but deploy them, and as your desk rises up off of the floor and a pair of miniguns sprout from the sides and begin to spool up, you desperately type away at your terminal to input the stop command, making your new battlestation jerk to a halt and then slowly sink back into the floor, all sign of its lethal ordinance tucking itself neatly away.

Wow… you wonder what Vault-Tec had in mind when they installed that?

Feeling a bit safer with the automated turrets protecting the vault, you take a few more moments to look through the rest of Security's files. There really weren't too many security problems, and it seemed like most of what Nicole did was keep her force from getting too bored.

Once again, there was only one guy in the holding cells… the same guy, apparently. Looking back through the logs, you don't see proper arrest records or anything for him. You might need to ask Nicole about that later.

Moving on, you pull up the records for Medical, specifically the plans for ramping up chem production, and do your best to understand them. An hour later, you groan and hold your head. Plants come in and chems come out, but your efforts to understand the process just hit a brick wall. It's like they're writing in a different language, practically.

"Sir," the intercom interrupts you. "Nick Hesting is here to see you." You rub your eys and shake your head to clear it, then respond. "Please send him in."

The door opens, and with timid uncertainty, Nick pokes his spectacled head in. "You… wanted to see me, Overseer?" he asks.

"Yeah," you answer casually, standing up and waving him in. "Take a seat, Nick. It's good to see you."

"Oh, alright," he says, walking forward and awkwardly pulling the chair aside to slip into it. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Well, first I wanted to apologize for springing all this on you the other night," you say with a bit of a sigh. "The way some see it, I ruined your retirement. I imagine it came as a bit of a shock."

"You're right about that," he answered, shaking his head. "I definitely didn't think you'd go off script like that."

"So now that you're not in front of everyone, I wanted to make sure you were really on board with this. Once you're past that vault door, there's nothing I can do to force you to bring anything back, other than try to make it worth your while."

That idea washes over Nick, and he seems to consider it deeply. Then he nods. "I'll be honest, I don't exactly feel ready to be done, to just walk off into the light like everyone talks about happening. If there's anything I can do to still help, I want to do it."

You grin. You couldn't have picked a better person to go out on a limb for. "I'm really glad to hear that. We'll get some kind of communication set up too, even if it's just throwing messages in a bottle back and forth. I'm sure Allison will still need to ask you for advice from time to time."

Nick sighed. "Honestly having me out of her hair might be good for the girl. She's got a skill for second-guessing herself, and it just might force her to trust her instincts."

"I hope so," you agree.

An awkward silence settles over the meeting, then you quickly think of something to fill it. Opening a drawer from a filing cabinet behind you, you retrieve the tray of reefer brownies and set it on your desk.

Nick's eyes go wide as he realizes what you've just set in front of him.

"Dave gave me these when I started as the new overseer, but I think you've done more to earn them. Though…" You pry up two of the flaky chocolate confections and offer him one. "I think I'd like to share one with a hero of the vault."

"Well," he says, your grin contagious. "I don't suppose I can say no to the Overseer…"

You each eat your brownie, and then you pull up the list of equipment you'd had manufacturing make for him and go over it together. You aren't really sure when the reefer started kicking in, but it was probably why you both found the idea of the entrenching tool hilarious.

"Can you dig it?" Nick managed to ask, barely managing to get the words out before cracking up again.

"I don't know, you'll have to tell me!" you answer, slapping your hand on your desk as you just disintegrate into chuckles.

A couple of hours pass, and by the time you start to sober up again a sense of embarrassment sets in. Nick smiles awkwardly, takes the remaining tray of brownies, and takes his leave.

With that done, you try to figure out what to do next, and somehow end up pulling up the library of Vault-Tec educational videos your terminal had installed, and spend a few more hours giggling uncontrollably at the antics of Vault Boy as he demonstrated various aspects of vault life.

You wake up from a dreamless sleep to the raised voice of Officer Hyland over the intercom. "Overseer, are you there?" he asked, practically shouting.

Snapping back to focus, you press the button on the comm. "Yes, I'm here. Sorry about… that."

"OK sir." You can hear the relief in his tone. You wonder how long he'd been trying to get your attention. "I was just reminding you that Nick Hesting's retirement ceremony starts in half an hour."

"Thank you," you answer, doing your best to seem totally prepared for this as you get up out of your chair. "I'll see to the last minute preparations."

---

You're name is Nick Hesting, and you're three days past Retirement.

Up until three days ago, your life had followed the typical course; graduating to lead the Maintenance department for ten years before stepping down through the ranks, and taking pride at every stop along the way that you'd been instrumental in keeping your vault running, if not smoothly, at least comfortably enough.

Things got a little rough as the years went on, Too many of the original parts had broken down, and needed rebuilds with what was available, or workarounds, or all-too-often jury-rigged solutions meant to hold things together for a month or two and which ended up staying in place for years. And of course, when those started breaking down that only increased the workload.

And then there was Allison. She was a good kid, and she knew Vault-tec systems front and back. That was the problem, though; she'd spent too much time reading the old manuals, and not enough trying to re-engineer moving parts to work without essential components no one made anymore. She was learning more about how the vault really worked every day, but it took a strain on her, and she'd been leaning on you pretty heavily to fill in the gaps in her education.

But now you weren't going to be there for her. You should already be out the vault door, and every day you lingered felt like stolen time.

You made efficient use of that time, while you had it. On top of giving Allison a few final tips and promising to reply to messages if you got the chance, you focused on learning what you might need to survive outside. You'd never really thought about what life would be like after retirement before, but the new Overseer sure made it sound difficult and dangerous.

You're already a master at Repair, but what other two skills have you recently focused on?

Choose Two tagged skills
[ ] Small Guns
[ ] Big Guns
[ ] Energy Weapons
[ ] Unarmed
[ ] Melee Weapons
[ ] Throwing
[ ] First Aid
[ ] Doctor
[ ] Sneak
[ ] Lockpick
[ ] Steal
[ ] Traps
[ ] Science
[ ] Barter
[ ] Speech
[ ] Gambling
[ ] Outdoorsman

Choose 2 Traits:

[ ] Bloody Mess
[ ] Bruiser
[ ] Chem Reliant
[ ] Chem Resistant
[ ] Fast Metabolism
[ ] Fast Shot
[ ] Finesse
[ ] Gifted
[ ] Good Natured
[ ] Heavy Handed
[ ] Jinxed
[ ] Kamikaze
[ ] One Hander
[ ] Sex Appeal
[ ] Skilled
[ ] Small Frame

And choose 1 perk!
[ ] Comprehension
[ ] Awareness
[ ] Quick Pockets
[ ] Swift Learner
[ ] Strong Back
[ ] Survivalist
[ ] Night Vision
[ ] Scout
[ ] Presence
[ ] Toughness
[ ] Smooth Talker
[ ] Faster Healing
[ ] Thief
[ ] Bonus HtH Damage

 

[Darkandus]

[X] Science
[X] Sneak
[X] Gifted
[X] Good Natured
[X]Survivalist

 

[LordEdric]

[X] Outdoorsman
[X] Sneak
[X] Gifted
[X] Good Natured
[X] Survivalist

 

[Ryan Lozano]

[X] Science
[X] Sneak
[X] Gifted
[X] Good Natured
[X]Survivalist

 

[Nordvegr]

Needs a threadmark

 

[Grosstoad]

[X] First Aid
[X] Outdoorsman
[X] Good Natured
[X] Skilled
[X] Scout (Can spot encounters from farther away)

The idea is to keep away from Bad Encounters and spot Random Encounters. Also, Nick sounds like a Skilled guy instead of a Gifted guy.

 

[Pyritr]

Voting Closed!

Final Tally:
[X] Science: 2 votes
[X] Sneak: 3 votes
[X] Outdoorsman 2 votes
[X] First Aid 1 vote

[X] Gifted: 3 votes
[X] Good Natured: 4 votes
[X] Skilled: 1 Vote

[X] Survivalist: 3 votes
[X] Scout: 1 vote

Dice roll to choose between Science and Outdoorsman. 1 is Science, 2 is Outdoorsman.
[dice]23328[/dice]

Final results:
[X] Sneak
[X] Science

[X] Good Natured
[X] Gifted

[X] Survivalist

 

[Pyritr]

Nick Hesting Level 3 (Vault Handyman) Str 6...Per 7...End 5...Cha 6...Int 8...Ag 7...Luck 8
Small Guns	3%
Big Guns	(4%)
Energy Weapons	(4%)
Unarmed	36%
Melee Weapons	36%
Throwing	8%
First Aid	35%
Doctor	25%
Sneak	36%
Lockpick	14%
Steal	11%
Traps	14%
Science	48%
Repair	88%
Speech	35%
Barter	29%
Gambling	30%
Outdoorsman	41%

 

[Pyritr]

Nick Hesting, The Retiree.

Back when you were the head of Maintenance, you relied on your ability to get along with everyone to get by. You made a point of always being polite, and of keeping first aid supplies on hand for whenever someone inevitably cut themselves on a piece of machinery they were repairing.

You also developed a decent understanding of the principles underlying the machines. Physics, chemistry, that sort of thing. You've never really focused on it though, as most of your time was taken up by just keeping the vault running day by day.

The last three days, you've spent nearly every waking hour studying whatever survival manuals you could get from Morale & Education. The pictures in the books seemed almost alien to you at first, but you quickly developed a basic understanding of how the surface world worked.

You've also spent some time thinking about how to move quietly, without being seen or heard. It occurs to you that seeing danger before it sees you might be the difference between living and dying out there.

Time just seems to slip by until you find yourself in the entrance chamber once again, waiting to meet your postponed date for retirement. You still feel a little floaty from your meeting with the overseer, the baked reefer digesting in your gut still releasing a steady stream of good feelings into your body. It makes it a lot easier to face the vault door again, after being saved from it the first time.

You turn to see that the crowd this time is bigger than the one that showed up for your retirement. That was just the people who cared about you, personally. Now your retirement was a big deal for the entire vault. Some were excited to see what would happen, while others, like Mr Baxter you see glaring at you from the back, are here to witness what they think of as a sin against tradition. Just yesterday, Baxter had cornered you to try to brow-beat you into giving up on 'this whole scavenging nonsense' as he put it.

Oh well. If he wanted to stop you, he could go out there after you. But you were pretty sure that wasn't going to happen for a few years yet.

Paula, the head of manufacturing, emerges from the crowd and personally hands you a canvas vault bag. In it, she explains, are the entrenching tool you'd just finished laughing about, a significant supply of dried food, a small iron pot, and a full canteen.

Then Nicole, the security chief, walks up. She helps you get strapped into a holster, which carries a 10 mm pistol and a combat knife. "I can't keep you safe out there, Nick," she says. "You'll have to do that yourself."

You give the gun at your side a skeptical look. You'd never carried a weapon before in your life, and didn't like the idea of what you might have to use it for. The unfamiliar weight of the thing hangs off of you uncomfortably, despite being no heavier than the various tools you keep in the belt across your waist.

Next is Dr. Reynolds. You know him well enough, the occasional workplace injury having sent you to Medical more than a few times. He offered you the same encouraging smile that he usually did when he was about to inject you with something or start stitching up a deep cut, and held out a first aid kit. Opening it, he revealed a set of four red syringes strapped to the lid, a large stack of plastic bags of orange goo, and a small bottle of pills, along with a small supply of bandages, gauze, and a bottle of antiseptic.

"You've used these before, Nick," He said, tapping the top of the lid. "Stimpacks, quick acting trauma-restorative serum. Reserve them for significant injuries in emergency situations."

Then he shook the pill bottle a little, demonstrating that a few pills rattled around inside. "These are Rad-X. If you notice your pip-boy clicking, consider taking one to reduce your body's absorption of radiation. Now if you do take on some radiation and start to feel sick, that's what these are for." He tapped the stack of orange packets. "Radaway. If you begin to feel strange fatigue, and especially nausea, you should use one of these. Just plug it into your pip-boy's IV slot, and your implant should pump it through your body and flush out the radiation over the next few hours." He glanced around at the gathered vault population, then decided to press on anyway. "It's also a potent diuretic, so be prepared to… ah, empty your bladder fairly soon afterwards."

With that he closed the kit and helped you strap it into place. "Good luck out there," he whispered as he got you situated, and then turned away.

The last to approach was Allison. You already had your tools, so you wonder what she might have for you.

Launching forward, she wraps you in a tight hug, burying her face in your chest. Surprised, you do your best to return the hug.

"I'm going to miss you so much," she said, pulling in a shaky breath. She pulls back to look you in the eyes. "You stay safe out there, OK Nick? If the second vault door's really open, I want to see you again.

"I'll do the best I can," you offer. You know better than to make any promises when you have no idea what you'll be walking into. "Just like I know you'll do with keeping this place running, chief."

That provokes some fresh tears, which she tries to hide as she steps back. The other department heads usher her into line as they pull back too, leaving the overseer standing in the middle the small room.

The kid just started the job, and already he's changed your life and made history. You're still not sure how you feel about that, but you guess you'll have a better handle on it by tomorrow.

"Let me just say how proud I am to have inherited a vault that produced a man like Nick Hesting," he says. You can feel your cheeks burning.

"Nick, three days ago I asked you to go out into the world that awaits us all, and bring back whatever resources you can to help keep this vault going. Are you still willing to undertake that mission, and aid the vault beyond your retirement?"

You nod. "I am, Overseer." As if you could say anything else with everyone watching you like this.

"Then I think I've delayed long enough," he says, and signals to the woman behind the controls. She had a cord from her Pip-boy plugged into the console, and at his signal she pressed the big button.

You turned to watch as the giant vault door scraped its way out of the entranceway, making you cringe at the sound of metal screeching, until finally it hung free of the threshold and rolled to the side.

Beyond, flickering lights illuminate a small metal chamber. At the far end, you can see the second vault door, standing to the side where it too had been rolled out of the way, leaving the open entryway. Beyond that, you saw bare stone walls and a smoothed floor, leading out into the blackness.

With everyone you know watching you, there's only one thing to do. The first step takes an act of willpower, but once you start moving you're like a ball bearing rolling down a ramp. As you cross that second, gear-shaped threshold, you reach the limits of the dim light from the small retirement airlock chamber, and you have to turn on your pip-boy's flashlight as you venture out into the darkness beyond.

As you look at it, your screen is briefly taken up by a quest notification.

Quest Completed! Leave the vault.

You shake your head with a chuckle, and continue on your way. You don't look back until you hear the vault door start up again, and you turn to see everyone you ever cared about waving at you, right until the giant slab of steel rolls into place, blotting them from view. A few seconds later, and the vault door has slid the rest of the way back into its frame, leaving you on the outside, completely alone.

Turning around, you trip over something and stumble, managing to catch yourself. Bringing your flashlight down to focus on it, you catch a flash of blue and gold. A tattered vault suit, with bones protruding from the sleeves and a broken skull grinning up at you between them. The 18 emblazoned on the blue jumpsuit leaves no question. You're looking at the corpse of a prior retiree, one who didn't make it very far at all.

A chirping sound rings behind you, and you turn to point your light at it, only to see a fat brownish-red insect body scuttle out of the way on a set of stiff, hairy legs, only instead of being small enough to catch in a bottle of Nuka-Cola like most insects, this thing was the size of your head.

As you follow what you realize is a giant roach with your flashlight, you hear another chirp to your left. You bring your flashlight around just in time to see another giant roach in flight, headed right for your head, with a horrifying spikey tube protruding from its maw.

You duck desperately under it, bringing up an arm to protect your face. The giant roach impacts your arm with a thud, and goes spinning through the air to land behind you.

Another chirp sounds in the darkness, and then another.

What do you do?

[ ] Draw your 10mm pistol and shoot them (Small Guns) (Under 0% chance of success)
[ ] Draw your knife and fight them off (Melee Weapons)
[ ] Turn and run blindly through the cave, trying to find an exit. (Outdoorsman)
[ ] Turn off your Pip-boy light and try to quickly slip away. (Sneak)
[ ] Try to think of some way to drive back the bugs (Science)