Fallout 3 - Blood Ties

As you know, I've been playing Fallout 3 recently. One of the quests which I really enjoyed was the Blood Ties quest and I figured I would turn that into a blog post. By the way, it should go without saying that this post will contain spoilers but just in case - SPOILER ALERT!

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The quest itself started off fairly innocuously. While talking to some of the townsfolk in Megaton, one of them mentioned that Lucy West appeared to be very worried about something. This didn't result in an entry in the quest log so, figuring it would be a 2 minute quest, I initially decided to ignore it. However, while wandering around Megaton trying to fix the broken pipes (another one of the quests without a quest log), I came across Lucy and took the opportunity to chat her up with her.

She told me that she hadn't heard from her parents in a while and was worried for their safety. Her family lived in Arefu, a small settlement to the north and she wanted me to deliver a letter to her family for her. Finally, an entry in the quest log!

The way I figured it, why the hell not? I mean, I planned to go north at some point anyway as Moira was looking for someone to check out Minesville. I could just do a quick stop at Arefu on the way, drop off the letter and get into Lucy's good books. Easy, right?

In hindsight, I guess I should have known things wouldn't be that easy. I mean, Bethesda wouldn't have bothered creating a quest log for a simple delivery job, right?
Bazinga!

I arrived in Arefu and, after talking my way past the crazy gun-toting sheriff guarding the entrance, made my way to the West residence. Of course, I knew something was wrong as soon as I got to the door and realised that it wasn't locked. Every other settler had locked themselves inside their homes as they were terrified of being attacked by a gang of thugs calling themselves the Family.

With a fair amount of trepidation, I pulled out my combat shotgun and went inside. Although the place was a mess, the first thing I actually noticed were the two dead bodies. Actually, there was the smell as well, but I digress. One of the bodies was sprawled over the bed and the other was sprawled over the floor. Not particularly pleasant, I'm sure you'll agree, but the really disturbing thing were the bite marks on the necks of the bodies. Clearly, Evan King had been doing a good job guarding the settlement...

Of course, this also meant that I wouldn't be able to deliver Lucy's letter. It wasn't until later, when I was telling King about the dead West family, that I learned about Ian West. Ian was the son and, with only two dead bodies in the house, the obvious question was - where the hell was he? The best guess from King was that the Family had him.

Time to go hunting.

But before I headed out, I needed to rest. The trek from Megaton had been long and, after several skirmishes with raiders and wild animals, I was in no condition to take on a gang of thugs. Would it be disturbing for you to learn that I took this opportunity to take a rest? Would your answer change if you found out that the rest I took was in the West residence and that I spent the night sleeping next to a cadaver?

Anyway, after a little bit of rest, I headed out and promptly got lost in the wasteland. At least, until I remembered that Evan King had mentioned that the Family was likely hiding in one of three possible locations and that he had kindly marked those locations on my pipboy. Hey, cut me some slack here! I'd like to see how calm you are after spending the night hugging a corpse.

I eventually found the Family holed up in the nearby Metro station. After creeping around in the dark tunnels for several hours, I spotted what looked like a raider standing guard outside some gates. Clearly, with the number of traps I had to disarm, these guys valued their privacy and probably wouldn't be happy to see me. Sticking to the shadows, I crept in a little closer and unslung my hunting rifle. One clear shot to the head - that was all I needed, one ... clear ... shot...

"Hey! What are you doing down here?"

It was around this point that I realised the guard was looking right at me. Clearly, a change of approach was called for.

"Umm,' I said a little sheepishly, "I'm ... looking for Ian West?"

"Oooh, you mean the new guy? Go on in, Vance said someone might come round. You should go see Vance first though. He's up on the mezzanine." And with that, the guard opened the gate.

"Oh. Okay," I said, "Thanks."

That's me - the soul of brevity. In my defence, this wasn't the reception I had expected. What with their attacks on Arefu and the number of traps that, presumably, they had laid out to keep people away, I was expecting a bit more ... drama ... before being able to get inside the compound.

Be that as it may, I was in!

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