Fallout Equestria: Desperados

Fallout Equestria: Desperados

The Consequences Others Pay, Part 1

_______________________________________________________

"Star Charter had many stories of her time in the Wasteland. After all, she had lived in it for the last eleven years. Most of that time was spent in New Appaloosa. I asked her about her journey to that growing town in order to see if she had been to any other interesting places.

Her journey started at a pace called Bold Harbor. It was once lived in by raiders, but other ponies had managed to push them out and move in themselves. She only spent a few months there, but she saw it growing into a fishing village as the ponies there restored the boats. Nopony messed with her there since she took part in the battle to keep the raiders out, and she was only eleven years old at the time.

Like Star, I have an interest in visiting the place to see how the place had developed. From what I know about civilizations, they do well to be near the waters. But with the danger of Pirates, one cannot know their fate until you see it with your own eyes." ~ Azure Dice

_______________________________________________________

Hangovers were not fun and I was currently suffering from one that felt like my skull wanted to split. Looking around, I found myself in one of the Desperados tents with a big stallion by my side. It didn’t take long to remember as I laid there, though most of it was a haze. Harp and I sang a few more songs, and then I left to join the reverie as she continued to play the instrument. I had some food, drank a lot, drank a lot more. Before I knew it, I got well acquainted with the locals.

Remembering now, I got extremely friendly with the Desperados and somehow Cherry got herself involved. I really needed to stop getting drunk around her, the last thing I needed to become was another whore. Though I wouldn't mind having another round with that stallion, see if he could help me remember a bit more of last night.

That all aside, I was going to seriously need a wash up before doing anything. This includes my clothes as well as myself. It didn’t help that I was covered in markings all over my fur. A lot of them were compliments, strangely enough. There were also several tally marks on my flank. That made me a bit worried. I did something more than a little dumb last night.

Getting up, I saw Henbane and another mare inside the tent. Both of them were covered in the same marks as mine. Crankshaft was in between them. I guess, when the mare had a mind for it, she gets her stallion… even if she has to share. Looking back at my partner from last night, I swear I had been with a different stallion… Well, I had been drinking a lot last night.

Gathering my clothes, I trotted out into the dim early morning. “Sup, Star Charter,” greets the pegasus, Thunder Crack, from above with an amused smile on her face. “You had fun, I see.”

I shrugged. “Having fun while I can. Who the fuck knows when shit will turn bad again? Anyways, got these pills from the stable, so I don’t have to worry about the aftermath. That said, you ponies got a place to wash up? My partner… or partners… got a bit too excited last night.”

Thunder landed next to me and playfully jabbed me with her shoulder. “Don’t I know it. If I didn’t have my own responsibilities to tend to, I’d have joined in. Oh, makes me miss when I first became a Desperado. Other than getting beat to Tartarus and back, the sex was wild. Then nine months later, you know.”

“Oh, I know all about that,” I assured with a chuckle.

Her eyes lit up. “Oh! You have your own? Tell me about it over at the water pump. I know the others would want to hear as well.”

The ruff and tumble mare almost gitty trotted off. I quickly followed her. Where Thunder took me was a somewhat blocked-off part of the camp that surrounded a single pump. Several mares were here washing clothes, themselves, and their foals.

“Take a bucket,” Thunder told me as she shoved an old rusty bucket in my hooves. Inside, it had a rather nice looking rag. I knew what to do next. I pumped some water into it before finding myself a spot to start washing.

“Hey new mare!” a little filly said to me. She looked just like Thunder except she was a small unicorn.

“Hey. My name’s Star. What's yours?” I said with a friendly smile.

“Thunder Flash!” the filly said before making a dramatic noise that sounded like she was imitating the sound of thunder.

“Ain’t she adorable?” Thunder Crack said as she trotted over with a smaller earth pony filly that also looked like her, and with them was an even smaller pegasus colt that only somewhat looked like her.

“Okay. Don’t tell me you have even more of them?” I said with a laugh.

She laughed as well. “Got two more still sleeping in our tent.”

I face hoofed. “Cloudy was right. You enclave ponies are baby crazy.”

“Damn straight,” Thunder Crack agreed.

“Damn straight,” her two fillies copied.

The broodmare then sat down next to me and began washing her filly’s as I washed myself. “So Star, you said you have a foal?”

I smiled. “The most adorable filly. Six years old and full of energy.” My smile faded. “She’s probably desperately missing her mama, and here I am fooling around.”

“From what Tire Fire told us, you didn’t have much of a choice. It’s not like you can trot right back into town. That sheriff is a mean bitch, and those mercenaries are real trouble.”

“Mercenaries?” I asked.

“BlueSky’s new guns,” she grumbled. “Unlike us, they were allowed to move about the town freely. Even help the deputies keep the order along with keeping eyes along the town’s border.”

That didn’t sound good. If it was just the deputies, I could sneak in easy enough. “That’s annoying. But ain't they just some skinny ponies from the wasteland? How are they any trouble for you?”

Finished with her eldest, Thunder Crack moved onto washing her second filly. “Skinny? Yes. Soft? Not in your life. I’m sure you have heard and seen them from time to time. They’re known as “Wasteland Ponies”. Always thin, dusty-looking, and from the more forgotten parts of the wasteland.”

I was slowly getting my mane clean, but with how long it was, it was proving to be annoying. Since I was not going to be able to return to the Ruffled Feathers, I might as well get my mane cut short.

“Ya,” I recalled. “They come through now and then. A lot of them have been moving into NCR territory. If you ask Harp, she got real close to one wasteland mare that's rebuilding the train tracks.

“So what's so different about them? Aren't they just ponies? I mean, aren't most ponies out here called wasteland ponies? That's a bit vague.”

“Well that's the thing; they aren't. Not completely. We just call them that because… well… we don’t know what else to call them,” she said as she rubbed her filly down. “We do know they are actually mutants. The kind that still mostly look like normal ponies. The Desperados know of a few mutant colonies out in the wasteland like the White Scorpion mercenary clan. Those ponies eat poison and spit it. Heard that if one of them is inbred, their bodies tend to be so toxic that it could kill you if you have sex with them.”

“That… sounds nasty,” I said as I took a mental note.

“Ya, but their good ponies. It’s a shame they ended up working with Red Eye, thus putting them in a bad spot when the NCR took over.” Thunder Crack then moved her second filly aside and began to work on her colt. “Fortunately, the Wasteland Ponies are not dangerous in the same way. They're more dangerous in an annoying, if a bit more terrifying way.”

I cocked an eyebrow, “How so?”

She gave a long sigh, taking a moment before answering. “Well, they're weirdly durable. They don’t need to drink or eat as much as a normal pony, and they're not as bothered by radiation. There was one who seemed to be outright immune to radiation. Even enjoyed that shit. They also don’t sleep as much as other ponies and are almost always alert. If there is any kind of pony who can live in the wasteland and thrive, it is probably them.”

It did make some sense now that I thought about it. The wasteland ponies were all coming from previously nopony zones. Places where the radiation was too high for anypony but ghouls to live. Yet they came from those places.

“Freaky,” I said.

“I know. Right?” Thunder Crack then jabbed me again. “Let's change the subject. I want to know more about your little filly.”

Smiling, I told Thunder. “Her name’s Bridget.”

Talking about my daughter filled me with a bittersweet feeling, both by remembering the joy she brought me but also a longing to see her.

We then continued to chat. Even had a few more mothers join us. The amount of foals I could see really bought it home that the Desperados were not just some roaming band of mercenaries. They were literally a nomadic community with several generations of ponies traveling together.

They were rough and tumble kind of bunch and openly vulgar around their foals, but they clearly cared about each other. The longer I talked with them, the more I felt like maybe I could bring Bridget and mom with me. Bridget could make some new friends, and mom… mom would probably hate it here.

But I know she would endure it if it meant keeping the family together. Maybe if I could find a nice place along route 50, we can start again there, but this time among the ponies who want us around. No more ponies keeping us out of decent work or looking down on us. No more deputies breathing down my neck and baiting me to make a mistake.

I could finally work a job that I’d be proud to tell Bridget about, even show her it.

Maybe all this was a good thing. All I needed to do was just leave town. Maybe we should have done that from the start. Maybe I should have not been so stubborn about staying, about making things right, and making things work out.

That was all in the past now. If I had not stayed, I would not have made the friends I had. Would not have met Harp and Slowtrot ether or gotten to know Hardballer better.

“You okay, Star?” Thunder Crack asked me.

Taking a deep breath, I smiled. “Ya. Just feeling a bit homesick. But thanks.”

“If it was not for that bitch, I’m sure everything would have been fine and dandy, don’t you think?” Thunder asked me.

“You mean Ashy? Ya. This is all her fault. She dared to try and make things better by just sending us to other prisons. She dared judge us when she is nothing more than a murder herself.” I growled out before calming down. “But what does it matter now. All I want to do is see my Bridget and my mom. Maybe I could have them come with us.”

A wide smile formed on Thunders face. “That might be possible.”

“What?” I asked.

“Ya. There are a lot of merchants passing through right now. Ya know, with the lightbringer festival being tomorrow. It shouldn't be hard to send a message through one of the traveling merchants. All we need to do is find one friendly with us,” Thunder suggjested.

Rinsing out my tail, I looked at her hopefully. “It can’t be that easy, can it?”

The chuckle of an old mare caught our attention as Burning Asphalt trotted to the pump. “Oh, that's easier than ya think. We already have a few merchants who regularly do business with us from under the sheriff's nose. Just tell me what message ya want to be sent, and to who, they'll get it done so long as the caps are good.

That was great news. No. It was wonderful news. “Oh, then I need a message sent to my mom, Prism Paint… oh, I probably should send one to the Gunrunners too. We should at least return Hardballers guns and the Smuggler. Then there's my friends.”

“Slow down there, missy. Maybe we should take this someplace more private. I’m sure your friends would want to send letters as well,” Burning Asphalt said as she pumped some water into a bucket. “Now before that, help an old mare with her laundry.”

“Fine, but let's make this quick. There's a lot I want to say,” I told the old mare as I trotted over to help her.

_______________________________________________________

Gathering in Elder Big Papa’s tent, the atmosphere was a bit... awkward. Harp was now wearing the black vest of the Desperados over her jacket and was looking through the Followers care package that Azure gave us. Slowtrot, on the other hoof, was just looking off into nothing like some pony who saw a bit too much.

The only one that seemed to be in a happy mood was Cavall. The pup jumped over to me and nuzzled my leg. Sitting at the table, I let Cavall jump on my lap and began petting his fur.

“Uhh, did something happen to you, Slowtrot?” I asked.

He slowly came out of his daze, finally acknowledging me. “Oh, ya. Got pulled into a talk with Rack End, Live and Dead’s mother. It was… a lot to take in.”

“Rack End wants Slowtrot to marry Dead Axle,” Harp said as she pulled out two armbands with the Followers of the Apocalypse symbols.

“She held onto a shotgun through the whole talk,” Slowtrot continued with a sigh. “Dead was no help. She tried to convince her mother to pass me onto Live. Now she wants me to choose one of them or she’ll put me in the grave. I don’t think she was lying.”

“Tough break. Maybe you shouldn't have fucked Dead Axle then,” I figured with a chuckle.

“Pot calling the kettle black,” Harp said to me with an annoyed look in her eyes.

“What? What did I do?” I defended myself.

She sighed. “What didn’t you do last night, Star? Don’t you remember what happened last night at all?”

“Some. The rest is still slowly coming back,” I told her. “I do remember I had fun.”

Harp looked at me for a long moment, then face hoofed. “Let’s just say that you… won a contest.”

“What kind of contest?” I asked.

Her cheeks flushed a little in embarrassment as she stammered out. “It… well… you know… see how many times… you can… climax.”

It took a moment, but it then clicked. “Oh, oh my… So that's what the tally on the mares was for. Wow! I wish I could remember it all. Sounded like a lot of fun.”

“Whatever.” Harp huffed as she tossed one of the armbands to Slowtrot. “I think Cherry got it on video. Maybe you should ask her to jog your memory.”

“I might, but right now I got some good news,” I told them.

“You better not be pregnant!” she snapped at me, causing me to flinch a little.

“What’s your problem? You didn’t have much of a problem when I was with those Zebras.” I reminded her.

Harp slumped back into her seat and sighed. “Sorry, I’m… I guess I’m just jealous. You're off doing whatever you want with no care in the world. It didn’t help that I had a nightmare where False Cap was harassing Cloudy and I couldn't do anything. I really hope she's alright.”

A smile formed on my face “You could ask her. I mean, that’s why we're here right now.”

Harp looked up at me with both skepticism and hope in her eyes.

“Oh let me explain it,” Burning Asphalt requested as she trotted to the table followed by Elder Big Papa and a few other elders. She then winked at me. “Maybe later you can tell me how your hips aren't as sore as mine are all the time.”

“I think it’s called not being old,” I said back at her.

Big Papa chuckled as he trotted to his seat. “If you want old, those who are left from my generation are literally falling apart. Old Road Rash is quite literally all bones now.”

“You can’t be serious?” Harp asked.

“As serious as a snake bite,” he replied.

I shivered a little. “Let's not talk about snake bite… So how is a ghoul even alive if he is, well… all bones and no flesh? Is he a feral you keep locked up?”

Taking his seat and pulling out a pipe, the elder took his time filling it in with tobacco then lighting a fire in it. After taking in a long breath of it, he puffed out a near-perfect circle and a line of smoke going through it.

“He’s still sane, though he doesn't move much anymore. From what I’ve learned, if you ever turn into a ghoul and don’t want to go feral, find a purpose. That's how you stay sane.”

“That’s all?” I said, finding it a bit hard to believe. “I thought the radiation, you know, eats at your brains or something. Makes ghoul a timebomb as most say.”

He gave out another puff, this time it looked a bit like a pony. “Naw. Seen it myself. I have been around since the beginning. About all the ghouls I’ve met who hadn't gone feral had something they had to do. For better or worse. Seen some go feral before my eyes, and after you see it enough, you figured it out. One ghoul I met was out for revenge. When he got it, he was practically feral overnight. Another spent a hundred years finishing a shitty piece of art. Then, within a week, feral.”

I didn’t quite get it, but if he saw it, he saw it.

“Fascinating.” I almost fell out of my chair as Azure spoke, causing Cavall to hiss angrily. I was really starting to think we should put a bell on him or something. It was ridiculous how he was able to sneak around despite the fact that he wasn’t sneaking, and that he glowed. “So could this feral state be similar to when the elderly pass away after retiring, or if their spouse passes on? If it’s not too rude to ask.”

“How does he do that…'' Big Papa grumbled. “Well I don’t know about that. Not many of us reach such a grateful age as Asphalt here, and we make sure even our elderly still have a place.”

“Makes sense. Survival cultures often make use of whatever they can,” the Lurker commented as he wrote a bit more down in his notebook.

“So with that out of the way, what about talking to ponies in New Appaloosa?” Harp reminded anxiously.

“Right,. That's what Asphalt said to me, yes,” the elder ghoul muttered. “We can send some letters for you. That part is easy. Just don’t expect to see anypony or go near there yourself. We tried to contact the Gunrunners, but they have yet to reply.”

“Ya. I suspect there’s some difficulties because of Ashy Oaks,” Harp said as she pulled out a soda bottle with a vibrant purple-colored liquid. “But so long as we can get a message to the ponies we care about, then I’ll be fine.”

“Agreed,” I spoke up. “There are a lot of ponies I need to tell that I’m okay. Though if I could see them again, that would be better than anything. Maybe even get my mom and Briget to join us.”

“If your mother is tough enough, she can be one of us.” the old ghoul chuckled.

It put a smile on my face. “If you saw her, you would know. Long ago, she had her wings cut off and kept on fighting. No pony is tougher than Prism. Nopony.”

Harp let out a long sigh and stretched her legs. “So I guess we should make those letters then. We can’t stay here forever, so let’s be quick about it.”

“Say, Miss Harp, I’ve been wondering, what are those strange drinks you have in that bag I gave you?” Azure asked.

My friend picked one up and smiled. “It’s a Super healing potion. We got twelve of them in the bag.”

Slowtrots ears perked up. “So they managed to make Doctor Lifebeats potion. That's excellent news.”

“Ya, but it says to not operate any heavy machinery after taking it. Causes drowsiness.” Harp answered then her eyes drifted over to Slowtrot inquisitively. “Say, you have the recipe for it on your pipbuck. Is it possible you can make some yourself?”

He quickly looked at his pipbuck with intense interest. “I’m no chemist or potion maker, but it’s a possibility. The instructions aren't anything complicated. There aren't too many ingredients. The problem might be finding the ingredients and distilling them.”

Harp smiled. “Well we did bring that distiller from the stable, so that's half that problem over.”

“Ya, but where are we going to find a bunch of healing potions, Sparkle-Cola, and New Apples?” Slowtrot asked.

“What are New Apples?” I asked him.

He scrunched up his nose for a moment as though remembers something that smelled bad. “The Flim and Flam’s revolutionary nutritional New Apples,” he said with a sigh. “When a lot of the Apple clan ponies stopped growing apples and started making guns, those two assholes filled in the voice for food production. A lot of ponies lost the work they relied on when robots started doing all the farming, so it was not an uncommon story for me to hear. Supposedly it was meant to be the apple to end all apples, but trust me, they were tasteless garbage. Last I heard about the stuff, the Flim and Flam brothers sold all the farms to Barnyard Bargains, and the apples were being used for military rations. I know that the soldiers hated them with a passion. I highly doubt any of them are even around anymore.”

“Actually, they are,” Elder Big Papa spoke up, a smile on his leathery face. “They're called mutfruit now, and the taste has improved over the years. I also know where you can get a bunch along with a shit ton of Sparkle-Cola and healing potions if we're lucky.”

“You don’t mean that place?” Burning Asphalt asked the ghoul nervously.

“Oh yes, and it will give them something to do instead of waiting for a letter to come back,” Big Papa replied.

I had a feeling that this might be fun.

_______________________________________________________

It was good to be riding in the gunner nest of the Smuggler again. The wind blowing through my mane was nice and the ability to blast anything that bothers me with a stream of magical energy beams is extra comforting. I rode with Slowtrot, Harp, Azure and one of the nightstalker females, Yipper and the pup Cavall, were with me too. The nightstalkers were getting a little anxious around all the ponies, so I felt we should take them out for a bit. Cavall, on the other hoof, had snuck aboard, and we were already too far away to turn back.

The other nightstalkers were on the other vehicles in hopes that they would get more used to being around other ponies that were not just me. I knew Henbane would be fine, but we all made sure they were fed before heading out.

Our destination was a small town within the former nopony zone. It was infested with feral ghouls and other nasty critters that kept ponies and any sane ghoul out. From what Elder Big Papa told us, such towns should have their own shelter set up in case if the worst happens. The other Desperados had also scouted the area. The place oddly had a still working movie theater and an apple plantation that was covered in wild mutfruit. All we needed to do was clear out the nasties and let the Desperados harvest what they could.

“So I’m wondering, why didn’t they do this before? Why wait till now?” I spoke over the com system Harp had set up through the Pipbuck 2000’s.

It cracked, and over the radio, Dead Axle explained. “Lots of shit going on in the wasteland, even if you don’t see it. The fucking Cazadores alone have been no end of pain in our necks. But, now that we have more ponies with us, no time is better than to tackle this bitch.”

“Nopony said we're fighting Cazadores!” Henbane shouted over the radio.

“Relax. Iit’s a small nest, and we're not going to get close to them. The Smuggler will just take pot shots and drive off. If you can get them in the wing, they’re easy pickings. It’s the hoard of ghouls who we are dealing with,” Dead said in a relaxed tone.

“That’s not much better.” Henbane sighed, followed by several ponies laughing over the radio.

“Enough chatter. I can see the target,” Harp spoke up with authority. “Like what Dead said, our team will deal with the cazador nest and keep them away from everypony else. The rest of you will lure the ghouls to a kill zone and wipe out that horde. Once the main danger is taken care of, we can then take things slowly.”

“Why are we the ones dealing with the cazadors?” Slowtrot asked.

Harp looked up at me. The old biker goggles on her face looked oddly fitting for her. “We got the right gun for the job. Right, Star?”

With a grin on my face, I patted the Aeternus. “Oh, we certainly do.”

Separating from the others, we sped over to the ruined town and began driving along the edge of what still stood. The place certainly looked untouched; no sign of raiders or scavengers. Just the ravages of time. The only sign of ponies having been here were the tire marks left behind by the Desperados who scouted this place before us.

Swinging by the movie theater, the place was what the elder called a drive-in theater which was open to the air and covered in long-dead rusted motor wagons of all shapes. There we saw a mass of ghouls watching a decayed film on a large screen that was half its way to falling over. There had to be at least over fifty of them just standing motionless. Some were still in their motor wagons.

Supposedly there were even more ghouls around and this was mainly why the Desperados did not venture any further into the town. A few ghouls at a time they could deal with. Over fifty of them at once, however, was suicidal. But supposedly there should be a treasure trove of sparkle-cola inside. Something about places like this always seemed to be well stocked with things like that.

Passing the place by, we drove to the other side of town where we arrived at an overgrown apple farm. Slowing down, we saw that the front gate was still intact. Above it, a sign read, “Barnyards Happy Orchards.” Under it in smaller text read, “A subsidiary of Barnyards Bargains.”

Again Slowtrot was spot on.

“Say, you said that they used robots here, right? What kind?” I asked Slowtrot.

He hopped out of the Smuggler enough to get through. “Don’t know actually. Ponytons, I guess. They were used for everything.”

Unfortunately, I couldn't see any robots inside. Oddly enough for a place in a wasteland, it was truly overgrown with plant life like a miniature forest from an old book. Other than the mutfruit trees, there were vines of some red plant all over, and lots of moss hanging around. Most of it stayed contained within the orchard, but the red vines had made an effort to creep further out.

A loud buzzing caught my ear. I turned the Aeternus in Slowtrot's direction just in time to see him jump for safety. A large pony-sized black wasp buzzed out. Its wings were bright red and orange. It just barely missed Slowtrot as its dagger-sized stinger hit the ground.

Pressing down on the trigger, the Aeternus let out a stream of pink beams at the oversized bug. After a moment, the Cazador lit up and exploded into ash.

“Have I told anypony that I hate these large bugs?!” Slowtrot grumbled as he got back up.

“I’m rethinking about driving in there now,” Harp admitted as she looked down the path. “I was hoping the nest would be reachable and the orchard would be mostly dead, but this is… a bit much.”

Pulling out some binoculars the Desperados gave us, I got higher on the Smuggler to survey. “Let’s see… I can see what looks to be a house further in. It’s clearly infested with those bugs. The land looks clear around it, so if we can just get in, then we should be able to just drive around the house to keep the bugs off us.”

Slowtrot jumped back in and put his shotgun in an easier-to-grab position. “Aren't we going to burn down the nest? That means some pony will have to get out and start the fire.”

“Ya. That pony would need to be real sneaky,” I said as I got back down.

Harp then sighed. “Ya. That's the one thing we are not.”

“Maybe you can go back to the others and change the strategy,” Azure suggested which caused us to almost jump out of our skin. “You all should stop forgetting I’m around,” he grumbled.

A smile then formed on Harp's face. “Say Azure, you think you can start the fire for us?”

The lurker thought about it for a moment and sighed. “Alright, but you better not leave me behind. It was enough trouble finding you the first time.”

With a crude but doable plan ready, Slowtrot crept the Smuggler through the gate, and hit the gas.

I had to duck down as branches slapped the Smuggler. Doing so smashed a few mutfruit against the metal siding. The sound of buzzing cued me into another cazador. Grabbing my Rust gun, I looked through a gap in the gunner nest and saw one of the buggers hanging onto the back of the Smuggler. Pointing, I blasted the fucker, thus shredding its wigs and causing it to fall to the ground.

The Smuggler then busted out of the orchard and into a large dead and dry area of land. At its center was the bug-infested house, though seeing it up close, I doubted anyone lived here even before the bombs fell. The place was just a facade. The front that faced the town was just a flat wall painted to look like a farmhouse. One side was a large hole, and inside it, we could see chambers for robots, some with the robots still inside.

Slowing down for a moment, Azure jumped out, taking with him all the stuff he needed to set a big fire.

Speeding up just in time for several cazadores to buzz out, I turned the Aeternus on them. One burst to ash and another fell to the ground, but a third came in too fast for me to hit. The bastard was then impaled by a metal bolt, sending it to the ground. Harp’s drone hovered out of the Smuggler and finished one of the downed cazadores off.

Circling around the not house, more cazadores came out of both their nest and the orchard. Fortunately, the Smuggler was fast enough to keep the dumb bugs behind us, giving me a good shot at them. It was so nice of them to line up for me, though a bit scary with how many of them there were.

*Thud* the Smuggler swerved a little as the guts of a bug went flying out.

“Fuck!” Harp shouted. I looked back to see her using her bolt luncher’s bayonet to stab a cazador then fire a bolt through it. Half of the bug’s insides were ejected from its body.

“You okay?” I asked her.

“I’m fine. Just keep shooting. If they get on, we're all dead!” she told me grimly.

I returned my attention to the mass of angry wasps gathering behind us. I let loose another stream of energy fire.

The sight of smoke billowing out of the fake house told us that our work was nearly done. Shooting at the last cazadores following us, I turned and shouted. “All clear!”

Slowtrot slowed the Smuggler down in front of a waving Azure who was covered in slime and holding onto his lever-action rifle.

“The fuck happened in there?” I asked the lurker.

“Bug larva,” he told us.

The house cracked and part of the side fell off. Behind Azure, two cazadores burst out at him at full speed. It was only for a split second, but both bugs hit the floor. One had Yipper on its back, holding it by its neck like the snake hound had done this hundreds of times before. The bug was unable to touch her. The other had two bolts in it as Order buzzed over to us.

“Several hostile lifeforms detected in the vicinity. I advise for Madam Harp to vacate the premises,” Order spoke as it landed inside the Smuggler.

I scanned the area but saw no cazadores in sight. “I guess the others are hiding, then?”

“This will be a problem. We can’t have the Desperados go mutfruit picking with those things still around,” Harp said in a worried tone.

Looking down at the Nightstalker, Yipper, she had already popped the cazadore’s head off and started eating it.

A yipping hiss then drew my attention. I saw Cavall had also caught a smaller cazador in very much the same way Yipper had.

“Say… do you think the Ghost Nightstalkers might be suitable for hunting those things?” I wondered as I pointed down at the two as that chowed down on the bugs.

Harp’s eyes went from the nightstalkers then over up at the now flaming nest, and then over at Azure. “I know we just asked you to do something dangerous, but… can you do one more thing for us?”

The lurker squinted his eyes at us before tossing his rifle into the Smuggler. “Then I’ll need a better gun. This one bearly hurts those bugs.”

“Alright, he can have mine,” Slowtrot offered as he hoofed over his service rifle with several magazines.

Harp then passed Azure one of the super healing potions and a Pipbuck 2000. “We’re going to go pick up the other nightstalkers, so it’s fine if you just sit tight.”

“Trust me, I’m in no rush to go hunting oversized wasps without more help. That's how people get killed in all those horror stories,” Azure figured with a happy chirp.

The Smuggler began moving again. We made our way back down the vine-covered dirt path with a flaming fake farmhouse behind us.

_______________________________________________________

-Quest Perk Obtained-

Rolling Thunder: engaging in combat with the Smuggler temporarily gives the three a bonus to intimidation and a 10% to critical chance and damage.