We made our way back to Fyrestone and Zeds place in particular to turn in the mission and I saw the vendor was up and running while the others waited with shields now openly sitting on their waists.
"Got some shields finally I see, good! We cleared out the bandit's already so this Nine-Toes dude shouldn't be getting any new intel, a good time to catch him off guard." I said calmly.
"About that, I don't ACTUALLY know where Nine-Toes is holed up. Not to worry though I know someone who might, T. K. Baha. Lives alone just outside of town, mighta seen his house when ya killed those bandits. Anyways T.K's blind as a bat but knows the area better than anyone else, if somebodies bound to have a guess where Nine-Toes is hidin out it's him." Zed said marking the house on our echo minimap.
"Ironic that a blind man is the best guide we can get." I say with a chuckle that Brick and Lilith share.
Like Zed said the house was really not that far from the towns entrance to the point you could easily see it from the town. The place had a garden(it was all dead) and was set up on a cliff with a metal shack that looked to be made of scrap sheet metal being the house. On the porch was a dude with a large bottom jaw and narrow face that wore thick dark tinted goggles over his eyes and had short red hair. He was clearly missing a leg and had on a Hawaiian shirt and plaid pants with a shotgun resting on his lap.-
"You! One more step and it'll be your last!" He yelled pointing the shotgun at us with a wide grin before lowering it with a laugh. "You should have seen the look on your face!" he said chuckling to himself. We walked up and he inhaled deeply "Smells like... off-worlder. How you liking our planet anyways?" he asked and everyone but me looked surprised.
The blind gaining stronger senses was not a new concept and as someone with definitely superhuman senses I could say with certainty that our group smelled differently than the locals. We were cleaner and lacked the smell of desert, blood and sweat that both Zed and Baha had, well except Brick who definitely smelled like blood.-
"Honestly this place is a fucking armpit so far. Everything's broken, including the people and if you were to tell me the place was a deathworld I'd believe you." I said honestly with a grin.
"Whew boy that's harsh, but fair enough. It's rough livin but livin all the same." he said with a nod of respect.
"Zed sent us. Said you'd know about where Nine-toes was holed up?" Lilith said and Baha paused for a moment before cursing.
"Ah damn rat bastard Skags just stole my food stores! Go kill em and bring the food back and we'll talk when I ain't so pissed!" he said grinding his teeth.
"How about I just give you food instead, probably better than what you had to begin with even?" I suggested not wanting to waste time on such a ridiculous task.
"Kinda wanted to see some Skags get got but I'll cut my losses if your foods as good as you say." Baha said caught off guard by the offer.
I busted out some cans of chili, pickled vegetables and cured meat hunks including a whole saurian leg that would hold just fine if hung up and salted after a piece was taken off.
"Sweet lord is that vegetables, on Pandora!? This stuffs worth your weight in guns here!" Baha exclaimed in shock as he opened the jar of pickled mixed vegetables.
I shrugged at the looks my companions gave me "What? I had time and money to prepare so I naturally got the good stuff for emergencies." I said casually.
"Well you're in luck as Marcus just opened up his branch shop in town after you cleared out those bandits so you can go get some grenades. You'll need em to get to Nine-Toes." Baha said and I was confused what he meant until I heard the sound of a metal garage door opening in the distance.-
"Got some sharp ears on you if you heard that from all the way over here." I said complimenting him.
"Hear? I ain't heard nothin, picked up the signal with my teeth! Made of metal you see." he said with a laugh.
I had to admit that was the most insane thing I had ever heard but if the fucking shoe fits I got no reason to judge it. We headed back into town and lo and mother fucking behold one of the closed up buildings was now open and had two new vending machines with different characterizations on them and a hologram of a fat guy grinning.-
The first machine was a sort of rusty color with a gun characterization on it and oddly enough sold actual guns like they were fucking soda cans, wild shit that. The second machine was green with a grenade characterization on it that sold various types of ammo and of course basic grenades as well as grenade mods. I hadn't bothered with grenades so far and honestly didn't plan to start now either. Still I bought a few since Baha needed them to get us to Nine-Toes.-
While I was here I also went ahead and bough Lilith an SMG, Brick a Shotgun and Mordecai a better sniper since there was a rare quality one for sale. Roland got a Uncommon assault rifle for himself with my money while I didn't get anything for myself as my gear was WAY better than any of this shit. Now better armed and prepared we headed back to Baha's where he set up the grenades to blow the entrance to Skag gully he had boarded shut after the Skags started acting up.-
The set up was downright cartoonish as it was the whole acme plunger set up past the like six Skag dens we thoroughly cleared out earning me a neat 3,792 units of lifeforce. Trait wise the Skags were also not worth messing with as it was the standard [strong body], [tough hide], combo with only [Omnivore] standing out as somewhat interesting but obviously unnecessary for me.
"Whew boy! I heard that blast from here! BAM! Go give nine-Toes some of that then come back to me once you put his bits to the grinder!" Baha said over the echo after we blew open the way to Skag gully.-
The name was VERY appropriate as the whole area was basically one big mountainous trail with tall stony walls and an absolute fuck ton of Skags.
"Time to feast!" I said excitedly as I ran past the med and ammo vendor machines and into the group of Skags.
Everything in my way quickly learned what the afterlife was like as I slaughtered everything that so much a looked my way funny, something my new friends were all about. Together we had to have killed nearly twenty to thirty Skags and emptied out the dens of the area. The stashed gun at Baha's wife's grave was a rare quality pistol that was clearly made by a skilled gunsmith, Lilith got it.-
Nine-toes for some fucking reason had only two midgets guarding the entrance to the cave he was set up in. These midgets were both about as tall as the claptrap unit and muscular and had identical full face masks on while using Buzzaxes. Mordecai sniped them and we were in just like that. Inside the cave was a sort of makeshift camp built using scrap metal precariously over the big ass hole that I couldn't even see the bottom of.-
'Why in fuck would anyone set up shop HERE of all places?' I thought confused at the ridiculous location.
"You are about to face your first real challenge. I hope you've toughened up enough." The "angel" said before going silent again.
"Twenty bucks says he dies like a bitch." I say to contradict the most likely not having good intentions voice in our heads.
"I'll get in on that!" Mordecai says with a grin.
"I'll side with the angel on this one." Lilith says with a smirk.
"I'm with Mordy and Alex on this one, like a bitch." Brick says with a laugh and we all look at Roland.
He sighs "Guess I'm with Lilith then." he says and we head into the camp.
There was like ten bandits tops and they folded against our might like origami before we dropped down into the weird makeshift gladiatorial- arena that was at the end. From the other side we heard mad laughter as a shirtless dude in a full face mask like the two midgets previous walked out.
"You woke the wrong dog! AAH Yeah!" he yelled while pelvic thrusting his skull covered crotch.
"BANG!"
I fired a single shot and his head burst like a cantaloupe. Everyone else just looked at me speechlessly.
"What? He had fucking nipple spikes of all bloody things! Who even does that!?" I said defensively.
"Fair enough." Lilith says and the rest agrees.
"Also I was right, total push over. His shield didn't even stop a single bullet, might as well have not even been fucking wearing one." I say honestly.
"You've taken the first step on your journey. Who I am isn't important, what is is that the vault IS real. Steel yourself for the challenges ahead and you will succeed! I'll be watching." the angel chimed in and I scoffed.
"Not fucking important my ass! I'm willing to bet she's either working for some jackass manipulator or is one herself. Don't know what's in this vault other than the monster but clearly she has more knowledge than she's sharing." I say annoyed.
"Did you say monster?" Lilith asked with a shocked look.
"Yeah, vaults all have a monster in them. The two I opened had this giant ape monster that had a single eye and was dumb as shit but durable as fuck and the other a big ass flaming bug that really had my balls in my throat fighting. Also it's common knowledge the vaults have monsters in them, you barely need to read up on Typhon Deleon's stuff to know this." I said confused at her question.
___________________________________________
https://www.pa treon.com/user?u=81578854#:~:text=pa treon.com/pa treon_loskro
_______________________________________________
Alexander Drake
Lifeforce: 159,321
Integrated Traits: [Gun expertise-Uncommon grade], [Clever mind-Rare grade],[Enhanced senses-Epic grade]X2, [Omega body-Rare grade]x4, [Supreme armored hide-Epic grade]X2, [Bone regeneration-Uncommon grade], [Corrosion resistance-Uncommon grade], [Energy projection-Epic grade]x2, [Superior vitality-Epic grade],[Flame breath-Uncommon grade],[Regeneration-Epic grade], [Disease resistance-Epic grade],[Amphibious lungs-Uncommon grade], [Thermal sensing-Uncommon grade], [Water resistance-Common grade],[Active camouflage-Epic grade], [Eridian engineering expertise-Mythical grade], [Quick thinking], [Efficient lungs-Rare grade]x2, [Fire resistance-Epic grade], [Elemental body(fire)-Legendary grade], [Shock resistance-Epic grade]X3, [Energetic sustenance(shock)-Epic grade]X2, [Radiation resistance-Epic grade]X3, [Energetic sustenance(radiation)-Epic grade]X2, [True omnivore-Rare grade], [Biometallic bones-Epic grade],[Elemental body(shock)-Rare grade]X2,[Quick thinking-Rare grade], [Hyperflexibility-Rare grade], [Strong circulation-Epic grade], [Minor spatial awareness-Epic grade], [Buzzaxe expertise-Uncommon grade], [Siren(Phaselock)(Altered)-Mythical grade]
Stored traits: