~The Scarlet Plus-Fours Fallout: New Vegas Picture Diary~

Starring Gracie Cutesman-Pieworthy

Fallout: New Vegas is one of the Fallout games, set in and around a city called New Vegas, which developed from Las Vegas after much of the surrounding America was destroyed in a nuclear war. It's a special game to a lot of Fallout fans, with characters and stories that feel human, different paths you can take through the main storyline, and a powerful, melancholy, yet beautiful atmosphere.

Since taking screenshots is such fun, I've started a new SSLP, which should eventually cover a whole game of Fallout: New Vegas and some of the expansion packs. I'm playing as a certified Charming Young Lady, complete with silver tongue, plasma weaponry, spiked knuckledusters and many bottles of Sunset Sarsaparilla. I hope you like it.

Chapter 3: What Joyful Surprises are Hiding in Warm, Bustling Nipton?

It was time for Gracie to go to Nipton. She wanted to have a word with the man who'd shot her a few days ago, who may or may not have been seen in Nipton. With that in mind, Gracie packed her bags and set off towards Nipton.

Some raiders from the Jackal Gang were camping on the roof of an old petrol station. Unfortunately for them, Gracie had a Varmint Rifle.

"It isn't quite a Laser Rifle, but for now, I find it more than sufficient." --Gracie

From one of the fallen Jackals, Gracie nabbed a dress.

"I-it isn't quite everyday clothing, is it? Gosh, I hardly know where to put my knees!" --Gracie

The Mojave Outpost's own Ranger Ghost had warned Gracie about Nipton. Apparently, for the last couple of weeks, the outpost hadn't heard much from Nipton. She was worried now that something dreadful had happened to Nipton, and asked if Gracie wouldn't mind bringing back news from Nipton.

"Why, of course, I shall be glad to ease your concern over Nipton," Gracie offered her agreement on the subject of Nipton.

Gracie's path to Nipton took an unusual detour through the metropolitan sewage system, another area added by A World of Pain. The sewers' particular flavour of Pain was a dozen angry mole rats, who gnawed eagerly on Gracie's legs and tried to burrow in her hair. She ran, screaming, through the damp maze of tunnels, until finally she burst through an access cover near the town.

"Do you know something? After such a frightful journey, this fine attire is just the little change I needed!" --Gracie

Unfortunately, Nipton was in rather a bad way. The acrid smell of smoke in Gracie's overworked nose told her something was wrong. Nipton was burning, its people nailed to wooden crosses, and the culprits were easily seen: A bunch of angry, strutting men, dressed up as Roman legionnaires.

"But why?" Gracie said in a small voice.

"Why would a coyote tear out the throat of a helpless radroach? Nipton was weak, something something natural selection, something something Hegelian dialectics!" scoffed Vulpes. "What's more, the people were little more than thieves and vagabonds, something something noble savage, something something appeal to middle-class morality."

Gracie stared at him, open mouthed. "You... " she whispered. "You think this is heroic?! No, that would be giving you too much credit. You bastards only have the one talent: making up excuses to murder, steal and rape, and pat yourselves on the back for it! If that wasn't enough, you've taken the cross, a symbol of kindness and hope, and defiled it by using it as an instrument of torture. What are ANY of you contributing to the world, save for another heap of pain?"

"Er... Um... Well, we can agree to disagree, all right?!" Vulpes pouted. "We've still got work to do, so why don't you run along and... J-just piss off!"

Gracie was indeed pissed off, but with the numbers the Legion had brought to Nipton, there wasn't much more she could do. Some unpleasant memories were coming back, of how an alien warlord named Kai-Zah, a rogue prince from Mars, had united dozens of tribes under his manly ideology: conquest, self-improvement, emotional repression, and never questioning the manly ideology. Now they were poised to invade Nevada.

No, forget about "poised". They already had, hadn't they? That was quite a bad sign.

On the bright side, Gracie had picked up some new clothes in Nipton, and they were quite comfy for travelling. She pushed the Legion to the back of her mind and carried on towards Novac, a town a few miles north of Nipton, where it was said that dinosaurs still roamed the valley.

Dinosaurs... That was a nice thought. Vulpes and his war party wouldn't be in much of a hurry to take on a dinosaur, would they? Buoyed up by the image of a dozen Legion soldiers running for their lives, Gracie picked up her feet and found her way to Novac.

"Err... He isn't entirely quick off the mark, is he?" --Gracie