~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 5: Gracie Makes a New Friend and Practices Non-Violent Conflict Resolution

On the trail of the man in the chequered suit who'd murdered her, Gracie set off towards Boulder City.

"I wonder, is the sign trying to tell me Boulder City is somewhere in that direction?" --Gracie

She went to look at the memorial to the NCR soldiers, who'd driven Caesar's Legion out of the Mojave Desert some three or four years ago by luring them into Boulder, then blowing up the whole city. A daring, controversial strategy, but one which was probably better than submitting to the ruthless Martian warlord.

Speaking of ruthless warlords, some members of a biker gang known as the Great Khans had kidnapped some soldiers, whom they were now using as hostages. Realising that these were, in fact, the same Great Khans who'd helped the chequered suit man shoot her, Gracie persuaded them to give up his lighter and the hostages in exchange for their lives.

Poor, misguided scamps. Hopefully they won't go right back to shooting innocent deliverywomen and stealing their Platinum Chips.

"I could swear I've seen this very same dreary-looking road in a Mitten Squad video!" --Gracie

Our heroine made her way towards New Vegas, where she spent some time exploring the sharecropper farms around the city. She got to know a local farmer who looked strangely familiar.

Such lucky ears of corn, getting to relax in a nice, sunny, cobbled-together warehouse instead of the desert.

Such a lucky farmer, with not one, but two shovels, and such a lovely hat on top. Such a lovely, familiar-looking hat...

"Oh, my days, I completely forgot about Rose of Sharon Cassidy!" Gracie gasped in horror. She turned down the shovel politely and ran all the way to the Mojave Outpost, where poor Cass had been drowning her sorrows for weeks.

"S-sorry I... didn't come and... pick you up..." panted Gracie, stumbling into Lacey's tavern. "I was busy with... With various things! But I've got good news... The Crimson Caravan company have off-offered to... To buy your company! That way, you'll be... You won't be a caravan company any more, so... So they'll let you out... Of the outpost... Pass me a bottle of apple cider, won't you please?"

"Then sell them the ash! Please, don't look this gift radstag in the mouth!" --Gracie

Realising she'd been clinging to a broken dream, Cass agreed to sell what was left of her company. She asked Gracie to come with her to what remained of her caravan, to bid a last goodbye to what had been incinerated.

"Poor, sweet Brahmin... I wonder whether they count as one cow, or two cows sharing a body." --Gracie

"Wait a minute... That plasma rifle on the ground! The label says 'if found, please return to the Silver Rush, which is definitely not in league with the Crimson Caravan Company'! You don't think...?!" --Rose of Sharon Cassidy

Cass's suspicions were raised, and a brief investigation found dozens of nearby Brahmin caravans brought down by energy weapons. Gracie was horrified, and Cass ready to go and strangle Gloria the energy weapons magnate that second, before using her severed head to beat Alice McLafferty to death. Gracie persuaded her to gather some evidence first, which in practice meant waiting outside while Gracie gathered some evidence first.

"What a nice, peaceful day. I'm glad I wore my baggy suit with the extra-large pockets!" --Alice McLafferty

"The new girl doesn't look bad in that armour, but she seems kind of... nice. Too nice for this line of work." --Simon

Stealing Alice's secret Competition-Removal Dossier was child's play, but at the Silver Rush, Gracie ran into a snag. The Van Graff sisters' Caravan Assassination Contract Work Dossier was locked away in a safe, which could be opened from the nearby computer, and Gracie was skilled enough to break into neither. She was going to have to bide her time, and mollify Cass with whiskey and foot massages, until her Science skill got to 75.