The Vault (Mature) - Active!

(Read the Stickied Topic First for a description and character creation rules)

The Vault:



Specific Rules:

>If you are uncertain of if something makes sense in the Fallout universe, ask before posting.
>Literacy is a must, no terrible grammar, spelling, etc. I expect everyone who plays to put in as much effort as I did putting this together.
>Post in order. This will make everything much more realistic.
>No whining, this world will be harsh, unfriendly, and without equality. If your character makes a stupid decision and dies, which is somewhat likely, don't sweat it. It's good roleplay experience to see a character die, and play that death out well and I respect a player who can do that.
>Stick to your stats. If I see Victor Winters punch out a super mutant, or Rocky Stone solve a rubix cube, I'll copy the post, delete it, and send it back to you for editing. I'm not being harsh, I want this to be a fantastic roleplay. On the other hand, if Victor Winters takes a huge dose of Buffout, and goes berserk, I'd love to see him destroy walls with his bare hands and such, so long as he also roleplays the after effects.
>Reality is key. Imagine if YOU lived underground for your entire life, and suddenly you were thrust into the "fresh" air and sunlight of a barren wasteland.
>Have a fucking blast!

For generations, your family has known the comfort of their deluxe Vault-Tec vault.

Built deep beneath the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming, an uneventful life has been led by the roughly 1000 occupants, those who remember the days before the war have all died out

123 Years have passed since the war ravaged the surface of the earth, and now turmoil once again rears it's head within the supposed safety of Vault 25.

This vault is composed of 33 descending floors, connected by elevator and stairwell both. The first floor, and entrance to the vault is the monitoring station and Preliminary Med-Bay. This floor also has an automated Holodisc library (Entertainment Buddy 2000), for vault citizens to check out holodisc books and movies. The second floor is the actual medical station, with a direction elevator transport to the storage rooms in the bowels of the vault.

The third floor is the laundry station, the fourth is the mess hall (MAX OCCUPANCY: 200) where the daily meal is served by a machine (The Chef-o-Matic) built to extract nutrients from purified waste outside the vault, and the waste products of the vault citizens.

Floors 5-30 are living quarters, reproduction in the vault is heavily regulated to ensure overpopulation does not occur, with sterility pills (Babeaway) being issued to those not designated to reproduce. Each room holds 5 occupants, and includes it's own shower and lavatory.

The 31st floor is the Overseer's quarters and the main monitoring system/purification systems room. Below that is the 32nd floor, and main storage compartment, directly connected with Medical via a special-access elevator. The following floor is weapons storage and Vault Security's meeting rooms/holding tank, and is constantly monitored. Access to the lower three floors requires keycard and retinal scan.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-15:00, December 18th, 2200AD-

There is the later afternoon hustle of the vault as the occupants go about their day, collecting their sheets and blankets from the laundry bot on the third floor. This machine works tirelessy, resting only every 12 hours to repair while its clone takes over. Hygeine is strict in the vault.

The final hour of "Lunch" has just begun and some stragglers are making their way upstairs to get their hot mulched version of Meatloaf Surprise, the surprise of course being that they don't know who's repurposed fecal matter they might be eating.

In the surprisingly busy hustle of citizens, all of their blue and yellow jumpsuits washing together to form an ever moving river-like entity, there is an echoed click. The movement ceases, and each vault-dweller looks instinctively up at the speakers embedded in the walls.

The overseer's pleasant, yet aging voice reverberates through the entirity of the metal-walled vault, seeming to come from everywhere at once, and leaving behind a tinny echo in it's wake. "Attention All Citizens. This is the Overseer. Will the following Vault Members please gather at the elevator on the 30th floor in proper Vault attire: Achen Lorest (the overseer's inability to pronounce the name obvious in his fumbling speech), Rocky Stone, Tristen Vanderson, and Victor Winters. Once more, please meet at the 30th floor elevator in proper attire, you have fifteen minutes. Thank you, carry on".

*Click*

And immediatly the motion continues. Many vault dwellers converse amongst themselves about the possible reason for the announcement, and those above in the mess-hall begin piling their plates with formless gunk. The overseer leans back in his elevated command chair, and sighs, eyeing the ceiling mounted display screens with a somber expression on his face. "Captain, go up and meet those four... Tell them to stay quiet, I'll answer their questions after I've told them everything..." The captain of security, who's blue and yellow jumpsuit is differentiated only by a gold badge on her chest, depicting an eagle with a lightning bolt in one claw, and a missile-looking object in the other, salutes the overseer and turns, heading to the elevator as ordered.

The captain steps into the elevator, swipes her keycard, presses her face to the scanner, and steps into the elevator. The doors close and she begins her ascent.

The overseer bites his nails.

Victor looked up, as the speaker clicked, and frowned slightly. 'I wonder what the overseer wants...' he thought to himself, as he stepped quietly out of the lunch line. He quietly put his tray back on the top of the stack, and walked quickly towards the elevator, being already dressed in vault uniform. His boots made a muffled "thud" with every step, quickly changing to a metallic clank as he walked down the stairs, to the 30th floor.

He walked quietly, thinking to himself, and speculating on what reasons the overseer might have that would require his presence. 'I don't really know those other people.. so it's not a medical reason... what then would, no could it be?' he turned through the door, and nearly bumped into the security captain at the elevator. "Sorry. Wasn't paying attention." He mumbled, and shrugged as an apology.

Rocky was lying in his bed when it happened. He dozed off, contemplating, as best as his feeble mind could, the meaning of life within the vault. He thought on those he planned to pummel into a thick paste this evening at the afterhours boxing match, and about the gruel he had forced down his throat at lunch a couple hours ago. He even thought about the security captain, and the way her ass looked in her form-fitting Vault jumpsuit, and right before his eyes closed, he remembered that his own suit was up in the laundry room, and he ought to go get it before the match.

The loud echo of the loudspeaker shook him out of his sleep and he jumped to his feet, ready to bash someones skull in. He then listened to the tail end of the annoucement, hearing his name, and not much else. He mumbled something, and went to the sink, dry shaving lazily, and wetting his face with a washcloth.

Rocky lived with his cousin, his cousin's wife, and their daughter. He didn't often speak with them, finding reasons to work during the day, and boxing at night. Occasionaly he'd work towards getting on the security force, to little success.

He shook his head, eyeing himself in the mirror and grunting in satisfaction before stepping out into the hallway in his tanktop and sweatpants, both stamped with the Vault 25 Stencil.

Tristan was already seated talking amongst her group of friends. Alan sat beside her their arms linked together as the conversation drone on to every day topics. Her head was leaning up against him when the His voice washed over her. All conversation stopped when her name was announced and they all gave her puzzled looks. Irritation flashed over her features but she quickly stomped that emotion down and forced a smile to her lips. Leaning over she whispered something to Alan that caused him to give her a knowing grin, standing up she gathered her scattered items and deposited them into the recycle bin to be take away. Straightening her uniform, which was stiff from being newly cleaned, Tristan finally reached the elevator and her curiosity was peaked as she considered why she was called in the first place.

Achen looked around, thinking whether he should try and find the other members thought again and decided there was no need to do that as he was going to find out in fifteen minutes. Achen was looking forward to enjoying some time alone, as his parents, brother and sister were going to be in the library that afternoon, but the change in plans didn't bother him much.

Achen meandered through the corridors, going across the groups of people that had formed after the loudspeaker announcement had been made. He realized from everyone's expressions and tones that they, too, had no idea why they were being called. He failed to recall the last time he had been called, but he understood it to be no big deal , having heard his father being called on several occasions.

Having decided to rush to the laundry room and quickly pick up his suit, Achen raced downstairs. He chose to take the stairs, in hope to avoid any questions people may have for him regarding the announcement. Just as he reached the third floor, a voice behind him said, "Come and see me in the library once you are done with your meeting." It was his father.

The security captain shrugged off Victor's accidental nudge, and stood at the doors to the elevator, patient and rigid until two of the others showed up. She eyeballed the three of them, examining their uniforms, and taking note of each of them, secretly wondering if they knew exactly what was about to happen, how different their lives were about to become. She was just about to open her mouth to ask where Rocky Stone was, but cut short at "Where..." when the living compartment nearest the elevator slid open, and the thuggish beast of a man that was "The Pugilist" stepped into the harsh overhead lighting of the hallway, dressed haphazardly in his casual garments. His tank-top partly untucked.

"Damnit Stone, you're walking a thin line, if this weren't so time sensitive, I'd have you back to change immediately... And you want to be on my security force..." She cursed and turned, opening the elevator and gesturing for everyone to pile in. Her Irritation was palpable. As Rocky shook his oaffish head and stepped into the space, she offered him a friendly death-glare.

"Drak" blinked at the exchange, and shook his head, minutely, as if saying 'none of my business, I don't want to know.' He looked away, and observed the inside of the elevator, not really looking at anything in particular. He committed all the people in the elevator into memory, and filed them away mentally, into what he noticed of their behaviors so far.He watched around, and just connected the thought that it was odd that they were specifically asked to come to the 30th floor elevator. "Excuse me for asking, but are we going down or something?" He said, quietly, almost unheard.

He entered the elevator, grunting slightly at the security captain's remarks in his direction, and returning her death glare with an unveiled glance at her assets. He thought on what might be upcoming for the four of them, but his mind easily wandered from that and settled on the three others as they piled in after him. The elevator was spacious, lit from the ceiling by mildly yellow-hued flourescents, and yet Rocky took up a great deal of the space with his bulk. He had probably seen all of these people before, maybe even conversed with them, yet he failed to recall. Unable to remember simple occurances like those.

When Victor spoke up, Rocky looked to him, adopting a somewhat condescending expression. "Why'd you think that we'd be going down, stupid? Nobody goes down." He seemed to be completely oblivious to his own rudeness, simply stating what he felt to be fact.

Tristan stood in the corner leaning her body into the tiny crook that formed there, she gave an uninterested glance at Rocky as he spoke aloud. The soft hum of the elevator set her body in a drowsy relaxed state, she wished she could just close her eyes and succumb to sleep. Jerking herself to stand up straighter she placed her hands behind her back and stood to attention focusing herself on those around her. The restless nights were finally catching up with her. She looked at the Lady, who kept passing glances at Rocky, hoping that some small twitch of the face would give away weather this was a good or bad thing to be called on. By the brutish looks of Rocky and how he seemed like he would be the most likely person to have broken the rules set by those of higher standing, she began to feel uneasy. Her arms prickled the closer they seemed to get to their destination. Looking around she hoped she wasn't the only one to have felt like this. Feeling foolish she tried to think of other things to get her mind off the matter at hand.

Achen walked into the elevator, and parked himself towards the back left corner. He did a quick mental scan to see if there was anyone he didn't expect to be seeing there. There was no one. Slightly nervous, he looked around everywhere, seeing Tristan's anxiety. Before he could glance at Victor and Rocky, their exchange of words began, which prompted him to resume looking down at the elevator corner.
Slowly, the five of them made their way up. He scratched his head. It was rather unusual that the elevator did not make any stops on their way up. Achen's apprehension did not ease when he noticed that the security officer had pressed the emergency button. He moved across towards the door of the elevator, realizing that they were nearly on the thirtieth floor.

SHEAKHAN: Actually man, they were already on the thirtieth floor. We'd be going down. And there's a bit more to it than that. Good post otherwise, but I'll clarify in the next post.

The security officer smiled slightly, thinking that, in a few short hours, Rocky Stone would no longer be her problem. Cast out for however long. She found herself wishing that his own stupidity would condemn him to death out there. Then realizing that this meant the other three would be subjected to his brutish ways for the duration, she found herself frowning, glancing at each of them with a small degree of pity visible in her gaze. She turned to the panel on the inside of the elevator and pressed her face to the retinal scanner, swiping her keycard as she did. The panel's extra three buttons lit up, and she pressed the one for the 31st floor. The overseer's command center.

The elevator noisily shifted into motion, gliding downwards the short way until it reached the next floor. The vault dwellers aboard would notice that this trip took slightly longer than traveling between the living quarters floors, indicating that perhaps the overseer's comparments were larger. Even Rocky seemed to notice this.

The elevator doors swoosh open, and the security captain begins ushering her motley crew out into the dimly lit room.

"Hurry up, we haven't got all day. I mean it."

Victor quickly stepped out of the elevator, and waited for the rest to do so. He falls into step behind the security captain, and follows her lead, since he has no idea where they're going, or even why they're going there. He could barely make out any features in the room so he payed close attention to the captain's steps, and stepped almost exactly in her footprint's. He squinted, and tried to make out any object in the room, but failed miserably to identify even one feature, other then the floor.

Rocky waited in the back of the elevator for the rest of the group to exit, then he took followed behind, tucking his tanktop into his sweatpants and stepping out beside the security captain, observing, as best he could, the outlineof shapes in the room. As he watched, the lights suddenly flickered on. The motion sensor in the ceiling picking up the security captain as she walked underneath it.

This room smelled... empty, clean, orderly. He didn't like it, his broad nose flared as he inhaled the scent. He peered down the hallway as he waited for the security captain to lead them further.

Tristan felt the tension as if she was walking waist deep through the waste that they consumed. She looked from the the lady who was leading them and couldn't help but admire her physic, if i was only a few years older...
she thought to herself noticing the sway of her hips, the way her shoulders were held erect caused her to smile slightly though that didn't diminish the sense that they were dead men, women as well, walking.

She fell behind the group her foot falls sounding more and more spaced in the clinic like room. She kept searching for a clock wondering what Allen was doing and if she'd get back in time to see her foster parents come home from the library before lights out. Which reminded her she had some over due things that she took from the library's restricted section. She promised to return them today before they were noticed missing. Her mind continued to wander as they seemed to move forward on an endless hallway.

Achen tried hard to remain focused. He maneuvered his way across the hall, attempting to stay near the front of the group, but kept getting left behind. He could feel a buildup towards something very dramatic happening in the next few minutes.

As the group made their way up the hall, Achen could not help think about his father, and what he had said to him earlier. He could not help wonder whether his father knew the reason why they had been called there. As he regained his vision by moving his hair back from his eye line, Achen came to the conclusion that it was likely his father did know what was going to happen to him in a couple of minutes. His grim voice during their last conversation did not help. As he looked up to a dimly lit corridor, he suspected they had reached their destination.

The security captain led them down the mettalic passageway, into a large, stark chrome room. The walls were lit with panels of lights and luminescent displays. In the center of the room, rising up nearly eight feet from the ground and supported by a single hydraulic piston-like contraption, was the overseer's "throne". An ovoid disc-like platform, with a knee high barrier wall all the way around the edge, safely encapsulating the overseer. The monitoring panels above the platform were displaying various bits of data collected from within the vault, as well as external analysis of the surface, including weather scans (94* Farenheit, 0% Humidity, Low Westerly Breezes not exceeding 2mph, and not a cloud to be seen.).

The overseer was seated behind the controls of the seat. The two large 5mm chainguns mounted to the side of the platform (likely in case of a vault-wide uprising) lie dormant, coated with a thin layer of dust. Shane McDermot was the given name of the Overseer, chosen according to the Vault-Tec issued procedures manual. He was a stern, somewhat portly middle-aged man, who's stressful life had given him an early silvering crop of hair. He observed the five of them enter the room, lingering slightly longer on Rocky Stone, who had been the topic of many a heated discussion behind closed doors.

After everyone had taken a spot in front of the platform, the overseer stood up, and nodded at the security officer, who seemed as eager to hear what he was about to say as the rest of them. He spoke to her, and as he did, her expression turned to dissapointment. "Captain, please leave the room... The following is only for their ears..."

The security captain saluted silently, her eyes showing how she felt regarding her expulsion. She then turned sharply, and exited the compartment, dissapearing around a turn down the way.

Once gone, the overseer glanced at the security cameras on the wall, labeled the: "Vid-Pal 1200". He then turned his grim attention back to the four that were now peering up at him from below.

"I would imagine you each have your own questions, and I'd really like it if you could, you know... Hold them. There will be time later, not much, but there will be some time..." He paused for a long moment, as if trying to find the strength to say what he needed to say. And then all at once, he found it.

"You might have noticed a few of your fellow vault citizens becoming sick, and going off to medical... You might have also noticed that they have been gone for a few days now... The truth is, we have a leak... Our sensors indicate that the mountain that this vault was built under has collected small lakes over the years since the war, that those lakes have become irradiated over time, and that they have slowly, for years and years, eroded pathes through the stone that used to keep us safe and sheltered..."

He breathes deeply, taking a moment to recollect himself.

"A defect in the structure of the vault has allowed this radioactive surface water to leak, steadily, into the water supply cells of the vault, contaminating two of the three cells and forcing us to overwork our purification system to keep the cell filled as we reroute it throughout the entire vault... We've been working on a fix, but it's been useless, we simply don't have the... well... we really just don't have the materials required to fix a radiation leak. Apparently our storeroom was incomplete with the vault was built..."

He takes a seat, sighing deeply and biting off a small bit of skin from his right thumb.

"We've chosen you four, after a whole lot of discussion(oftentimes the overseer discusses important issues with the logic center of the vault), to leave the vault and travel east, to Vault 26... We hope that they were supplied with sufficient materials and tools... With luck, they'll be able to supply you with these things so that we can repair our water cells and block out that radiation. The water purifier was meant to work a few times a week, not every day... It won't last the remaining 77 years that this vault is supposed to stay closed for..."

He didn't seem to know what else to say, other than to watch these four victims of circumstance, and hope that they were understanding enough... Brave enough...

Victor blinked at the turn of events, and took a moment to analyze what the overseer said. Then, he spewed forth the most intelligent phrase uttered all day. "What?" He shook his head as if to clear it. "So let me get this straight... You want us to go to the nearest vault... Vault 26... and retrieve their water filter, because ours might break- because it's used too much." He looked off to the side, then back at the overseer

He frowned and thought for a moment, before continuing "Do you have a map you can give us? Because for some reason, I don't think it's gonna' be 'Turn right at room #108 to get to vault 26' and I'm fairly certain none of us know our way around up there..." He made as if to continue, but stopped short- thinking it better to let him answer one question at a time, instead of thirty fired off at once.

Rocky would have said something. But the thought of them trekking across the wastes above sounded like a miracle to him. A chance to make use of his prodigious strength. He hardly paid attention to the actions of the others, zooming off into his own little world, powered by what little imagination he had. He pictured all sorts of alien beasts and deformed humans, each of them falling before him in battle.

He found himself anticipating the confrontations ahead, in his mind they had already accepted, they were already destined to make the journey. Rocky was bloodthirsty, wanting both combat, and glory. Knowing that he would be idolized if, at the very least, HE could make the journey and bring back the necessary materials. If the others died along the way, or couldn't keep up, he'd go on without. He wasn't planning on letting any of them hold him back from his adventure.

Rocky Stone would have been perfectly at home in ancient rome. A gladiator 'til death.

She felt an electric shock run through her blood stream. "Wait a second, hold on!" She couldn't believe the first one to speak was acting so calm. "You're asking us to leave our homes, go above ground! What even makes you think we are qualified to handle this?" a thin sheen of perspiration covered her petite frame. She honestly couldn't believe what she was hearing. To go out into a place that she has never been to, surviving out in the wild with no knowledge of what they faced. The things that were up there. Her heart began to race as she thought of those she was leaving, but if she didn't those she loved would be placed in a position she would rather never see them in. Her mind was torn into two as she mentally tried to come up with a valid reason why this whole thing was pure lunacy.

Achen shook his head in disbelief. It took him a while to figure out
how he wanted to feel, and when he did, he displayed his crooked white
teeth to the security officer. His mind wandered a few years back when
his father had told him he would always depend on him for everything. It was so unexpected for Achen, and
for the other three, he realized. He understood why Tristan was so worried, but the danger of this proposed expedition was outweighed by the thought of finally leaving his parents, even though it would probably be temprory. Snapping out of his daze, Achen added to the list of questions Victor had asked. "When do we leave?"

The overseer couldn't think for a moment, his face betraying how overwhelmed he was with the few questions he received. He raised his hands for everyone to be silent, then, when they finally ceased asking, he responded, cautiously, nervously, and as awkward as can be.

"Vi... Victor, it's not just because the water pump is uunder stress that we need you people to go out and do this, it's because all of the water pumps are in danger of leaking radiation into our vault, we can't go on like this without help..." he stuttered throughout, then turned his eyes to the next inquiry.

"I have to admit, noone in the... well, nobody here is truly qualified for this, but you've all received the basic tutoring on possible emergy expulsion from the vault, and... well, our logic centers determined you four to be the most.. err.. likely survivors of an excursion." he shook his head, as if a massive shiver was making it's way up his spine, then looked to Achen, answering his question simply enough.

"Achen, boy... You are all to be equipped with a few minor arms, some basic survival gear, and, of course, your PipBoys.*"

He looked them each over and sighed.

"Listen, I know this is sudden, and... harsh, but you will leave within the hour, go to the meeting room down the hallway, the security captain will be waiting... Don't speak about this mission, don't even think about it. Just tell her I said to give you the provisions, and to let you out... And... please... Don't fight it, I'm depending on you... Everyone is depending on you..." he coughed and scratched his chin, hoping desperately that they would simply abide, and go about their mission.

They really did depend on it.

*A small wrist mounted display screen that logs data sent to it or input by the user. It maintains records, contacts, and connects with still functioning sattelites to map locations visited.

Victor sighed quietly. "I'm in... But I still want a map or something... Better to get there and back as quickly as possible, no?" He asked, rhetorically. He looked at the assembled group, and quickly analyzed them, and stored away what he thought they might have been told to go for. He only took note of their physical atributes, and what little bits of their personalities he had seen so far.

He stopped for a moment at Rocky, not knowing what they'd need a brutish person for- if they were going for specific parts, who's capabilities, and uses would likely pass straight over his head, unopposed... but maybe they were heavy parts... he didn't know yet. He looked at Tristan, but held his doubts to himself, as panicked or not, there must be a reason she was called along. He looked last at Achen, and grinned a little to himself. Eager to go... Motivation can't hurt.

Rocky, alone of the group, made his way to the meeting room, a step in the direction of adventure. He did not wait courteously for the others, respond to the overseer, or otherwise indicate that he felt himself to be part of the group. Indicator that the future held trials and tribulations within the party, as well as with the harshness of the wastelands above, and whatever inhabitants it may keep.

He lumbered down the passageway, his feet heavy on the steel floor. He rounded the corner, and met face to face with a pale Security Captain, obviously (at least to someone of higher mental prowess than Rocky) guilty of eavesdropping. Rocky eyed her up and down and grinned. "You comin' with us Captain?", he crossed his sizeable arms across his equally large chest, and waited.

NOTE: Skip Raining_Roses (Nikki) She is absent indefinately, and if she returns and wants to insert her own response, it will replace this notice so as to remain in it's proper order. Until she returns, assume she follows behind, if combat/tragedy ensues before she returns, assume her fate to be the same as the first to fall.

Tristan numbly followed Rocky, she knew what was going to happen, and didn't honestly believe even if she protested that she would be let off of said mission. Sighing softly she squared her shoulders and marched after the retreating backs. She looked up and heard the one sided conversation with the Captain and looked in contempt for the over indulged muscle bound dolt. I'm suppose to help save this place, and he's on the same team...this is a suicide mission, I should have known when he first walked in. Her mind then wandered onto everything that was said and wondered why the hell she was chosen for this.


sorry this is a short post you guys!!!