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Update 18 ? Clipping
Last time, we had talked to God and learned some things. It is now time to talk to Dog.
We do this by playing the Prisoner Commands recording on our Pip-Boy.
I had questions for you.
Yes, Master.
Can you tell me how you got to the Sierra Madre?
Here? Followed voice in air, then here... here as long as can remember. Don't like this place... hard to find things to eat sometimes. Better than the cage. Dog doesn't like being locked up. Voice in air didn't say anything about a cage and nothing to eat.
Voice in the air?
Dog hears many voices... one in air. The... other one. And Master. Master is the nicest. Gets mean, mad sometimes. But lets Dog feed.
I want to hear more about the Master.
He takes care of Dog. He tells Dog what to do. Told Dog to come here, put collars on people. Sometimes people fight. Dog holds them until they go quiet, don't make any noise. If collars don't fit or go too quiet... find others for Master.
Where's your collar?
Lost it. Got hungry. Made the other voice mad, madder than it ever was, mad enough to lock Dog up.
What's the other voice?
Other voice... don't wake him up. When voice wakes up, Dog goes to sleep and voice climbs up in Dog's head. The voice puts Dog in places... puts him in cages and locks him in.
Do you know how to wake him up?
Sometimes when Dog gets tired. Or eats too much, gets full. Sometimes... when Dog goes to the cage... then voice wakes up.
Did you bring ?
Dog fetches. Dragged you here... Dog thinks. You not struggle like others. Trap makes you sleep, make your voice go to cage. Dog doing what he was told. Tried to catch as many as he can, can eat the others.
Do you know the way back?
Might find way back if Master lets you go. If he not want you to go, he makes head red spray. Then Dog has to find another one. To leave...? Go through gate, walk. Hard to find way, Dog can do it, too hard for most to co. Why so quiet in streets.
Could I find my way back?
Maybe. Not sure you could find way back once leave. Dog has to smell and hunt for path back here sometimes... Cloud keep moving. It okay... no one ever leave except Dog... and Dog not want to leave. You here until Master lets you go.
Okay, so!
Here's Dog's perk. It's... kind of handy, but it's also kind of useless for reasons I'll show soon.
And here's our Intelligence. There is a challenge called The Whole Sad Story which is accomplished by hearing the backstories of the other three people trapped here, plus Elijah. The thing is, we cannot learn Dog/God's story right now, since it's behind an Intelligence check.
We have to have less than 4 Intelligence to ask the question.
There. That better 
How you get here?
Here? Followed voice in air, then here... here as long as can remember. Don't like this place... hard to find things to eat sometimes. Better than the cage. Dog doesn't like being locked up. Voice in air didn't say anything about a cage and nothing to eat.
Me hear voice, too? Then got here, bad place.
Dog trapped here, too. This place not like West. Air like copper wire. Gut heavy, hurts, beeps sometimes. Back West... in bone cities... Dog wore a collar on wrist, turned him into color of ground, turned him into color of sky.
Nuh-uh!
Is true. Dog wore it right on his hand, where bear trap is now... he thinks. When put it on, hard to see. Hard to see... Dog was told not to be seen then. Same as now, except different.
Dog misses the Church. When got dark, no people, Dog could sit on floor and look up at ceiling. Could... take off wrist-collar then.
Where Church now?
All gone. All gone. It better now that found new Master.
If people fight, Dog hit them until they stop. And if more than one, Dog can eat them, so Dog hunts hard for as many as he can find.
So that's the story of Dog ? he was a Nightkin in The Master's service back in Fallout 1. Presumably he was absent (off hunting?) when the Vault Dweller rolled through the Cathedral. I think it's a bit mean to make it require a low Intelligence to get this part, but there you go. Obsidian doesn't seem to have fully learned to not hide story behind stat checks (Kreia 
).
Anyways, let's head out, get the next person.
There's a pair of Ghost People out here, and Dog fucking charges off like a rocket and kills one before I can screencap.
Dog doesn't like to eat them always, sometimes so many. Keep stabbing Dog, cutting him.
Doesn't that make the voice mad?
Voice doesn't get mad when Dog feeds on the people here. Voice not like Ghost People, worried there are too many to eat, too many knives. Started eating them because wouldn't go quiet when Dog smashed them with bear jaw. Only want one.
So Dog started crushing them, then when they stop twitching, then dog eats them. Then they not get back up with hssss-chkk noise, Dog not like that. Dog can tell when they not yet dead... twitch a bit, make low noise, then noise when they get back up, listen.
Do you need to eat them to make them stay down?
If can't make them fall down and rip off legs, make them ash. Saw one caught in electric sparks so much, he turn into burnt pile. Not get back up.
Dog knows where to hit them, make them stay down... base of neck, lower back, hit it hard enough, life snaps out of them.
Can you show me where?
Dog can... see where back of collar is? Follow down, to lower back ? hit neck, middle back, right on spine, crack. Then they not get back up.
Alright! Now whenever a Ghost Person dies, they will automatically lose a random limb. This applies even if an ally lands the final blow ? making Dog's companion perk now redundant. You may still want to have him instead of God for fighting, though. Dog's starts are just plain better than God's, with 10 STR, 8 END and 10 AGL, whereas God has 5s across the board ? but it's no longer necessary to make things stay dead easily.
We can then switch back to God at this point. I do so primarily because we can kill the Ghost People just fine together, and he essentially gives the Light Step perk making mines and such (very present) much less of a colossal annoyance.
Also, the Ghost People that showed up were Trappers ? meaning they have Bear Trap Fists!
The Bear Trap Fist is pretty fuckin cool ? between its extra limb damage and crit chance, it made my Unarmed character actually the easiest of the Dead Money runs I've done. Plus, you're punching people and grabbing them with a bear trap at the same time and that's pretty fuckin cool.
On the way back I grab a shotgun that's by one of Dean's Stashes ? the hand loader ammo I can make for this results in a remarkably lethal weapon that I have fun with.
We'll head over to Christine next.
Elijah will happily tell you all this shit over and over again just in case you skipped talking to him and went to that area first.
There's a speaker right under the crosshair. If you look just to the lower left, you can see a bit of graffiti telling the player that it's there. It's not too useful right now, but occasionally you find some of this graffiti helping you know that the speaker is just around the corner, say.
Ghost people.
Here I've found a "return outfit item" code ? as it implies, we can return clothing items for Sierra Madre chips at the vending machines now. It's crap though, we will have much better sources of chips soon.
Oh, and your companions say little lines. This is like, 75% of what God says this round. Oookay I get it jesus shut up.
A fair bit of roaming later we make it into the Clinic proper.
Babby's First Security Hologram.
We can use a terminal to set its patrol behavior to be down on the floor below us.
See that blue thing down at the end of the hallway?
It's the emitter for this hologram! We can either shut it off with a Repair of 25 (the difficulty will vary as we progress) or failing that just shoot it.
We can now fall back to the terminal and make the system try to use the upstairs emitter. This is 100% allowed and will not reactivate the emitter, so we no longer have a security hologram to worry about. Destroying/disabling their emitters is the only way to deal with them besides just avoiding them. They turn yellow when they have spotted you, stay that way a good few seconds, then turn red (and hostile). Their attacks hurt a fair bit, too.
We find a Mentats code in here on a shelf. 
We can also break into the old Chief Physician's office.
And hack his computer!
An unlocked computer on the desk's left side has the Med-X code and this log too.
The key to the basement is in the desk.
We now make our way down to the first level.
What a great code 
Also there is a morgue on the first floor.
(That's God talking)
A terminal in here has some old information.
This assassin's suit is just chilling here, pretty much unexplained (by the game, it is known that this was worn in by Christine but it's not to be found really in-game). We will wear it because we get +10 sneak at a cost of 2 DT which I think is a good trade.
There are some partially-okay Auto Docs here ? they can't top off our health or anything but they'll fix up any crippled limbs, as well as give some adrenaline shots to alleviate the Hardcore Mode need for sleep.
Uggghhhh.
The basement is pretty dark. Best use our Pip-Boy light.
Oohhh. Nice.
We want to turn off the main power ? that will handle the speaker upstairs.
Some more story.
The collar response is coming from in here. Hope whoever's inside is okay. And isn't claustrophobic. 
GAH JESUS FUCKING CHRIST
Also the girl inside looks like she's seen better days.
But seriously god fucking damn it, uh, God.
Oh good, at least the conversation camera moves forward far enough to leave God's whole internal head area.
Are you all right?
Oh fuck she's a mute. A new one at that.
Look, I'm here to help.
[She looks shaken. As she glances at the Auto-Doc, she recoils, and her mouth opens ? but again, nothing comes out. She looks back at you, and her hands clench into fists ? her eyes narrow, and she takes a step back, studying you.]
What's the matter?
[The woman opens her mouth again, winces, then frowns and drags a finger across her throat in a slow motion. She looks more angry than pained now. Frowning, she touches her throught again, gently, then her hand brushes her collar, then her frown deepens.]
It's a bomb collar ? mess with it, it'll go off.
[She looks surprised. Then notices your collar, and raises an eyebrow.]
Let's just say we're in this together.
What do you mean by that?
[She shakes her head again and draws a line in the air between the two of you.]
Look, together we can get out of this.
Look, I'm not trying to order you. But your life is tied to mine.
[She frowns, glances at the collar, looks back at you. She makes a circle with her hands, puts her hand over her eyes and squints. She nods at you, then lowers her hand from her eyes, shakes her head. She draws a slow line between you.]
You're looking for something else. Fine, I can help.
[She nods at you, then raises an eyebrow and nods at the door.]
All right, come with me.
[Christine glances at your follower, shakes her head, then points at you, her, and nods in the direction of the fountain.]
So yeah, we still have that hard-coded 1 humanoid follower limit going on.
Also we hit level 18, put Speech up to 85 (for plot reasons) and for the last time take Intense Training for a total of 6 Perception (for Better Criticals reasons).
The camera just hates me doesn't it 
It's a decayed speaker. If we stay too long near one, it'll go off.
[She taps the collar and then opens and closes her hand really fast. She taps her collar, then opens and closes her hand really fast. She points at your Pip-Boy, her collar, and then your collar. After a second, she then opens and closes her hand slower.]
[She points at your collar, then hers, then nods at your Pip-Boy. She makes a triangle motion, then the same slow pulse as before with her fingers.]
Does that work with any other collar?
It's just your frequency.
[She nods once, then again, points at the two of you, then the Pip-Boy.]
...but only between us.
We have an uneventful little trip back to the Fountain.
Left alone, the followers at the Fountain will have little banter at each other like this.
So, now that we're relatively safe, let's attempt to get to know Christine.
Looks like someone set the bone saws to run random.
[She shakes her head... then pauses, and shakes her head again, then looks exasperated.]
The Auto-Doc didn't do that?
So the Auto-Doc cut your voice box, not your scalp.
[Christine nods.]
Do you know how to get out of here?
[Then her hands lash outwards, fingers splayed and she rolls her eyes back. After a second she turns back to you and shakes her head.]
So once the collars are gone, we can just leave?
[She nods slowly, as if thinking. Then she raises an eyebrow, looks skeptical, then shrugs. She points downwards, makes a circle around her, then back to the same spot, and then her finger drifts, circling, and she makes a mock-frown.]
...to return here if I leave.
[She nods.]
But not you.
[She nods once.]
Why can't you find your way back?
You aren't going to leave.
[She nods.]
Are you trying to break into the casino?
[She frown,s shakes her head... pauses... then tilts her head slightly, nods slowly.]
[She then makes a motion as if picking up a pencil, tries to write, then shakes her head.]
Something to do with the surgery.
[She pauses, then draws a jagged symbol like electricity in the air, then puts on an odd, staring face. She keeps the blank face for a second, then slowly blinks, looks around. She looks at her hands, shakes them, then lets them go limp.]
Do you know what those machines around the Villa are?
[Christine shakes her head, then pauses, and makes a small circle with her thumb and forefinger. She points at you, and makes the motion of putting something in her palm.]
Here's a Sierra Madre Chip. I'll need that back.
[She examines the chip for a second, raises it to her eye, then turns it to the side, gauging its diameter and width. She runs her finger over the surface slowly, checking the engraving. She then tosses the chip back to you.]
[She stands still for a second, then stops, and slowly makes the motion of bending down and scooping something up. Then she holds the imaginary object in her hand, as if heavy, and puts it down in front of her, as if on a table.]
[She points at your Pip-Boy, makes a motion of opening it up and removing something from it. She then raises her hand and makes the motion of smashing it and holding up the remains.
You need a battery... a Fission Battery... and Scrap Metal? And you can counterfeit the chips?
[She nods, impressed. Then she points at you, then her and makes a circle.]
Can you teach me how to do it?
That's Christine's dialogue perk ? it's I guess useful but there's still way better ways to get the things. Anyway, there's one very big question left for her.
How did you end up in the Auto-Doc?
[She moves her finger in a circle, frowns, then drags her hand down over her eyes. She raises them again, points to you.]
You were knocked out?
[She nods. She raises an eyebrow, points at you, makes a circle, then points at your feet.]
[Still pointing at the ground between you two, she raises an eyebrow.]
Followed a radio signal here, a woman's voice.
[She waits. After a second, she raises her eyebrow again.]
...I was curious where it led.
[She points at you, then points at the casino, and she slowly shakes her head ? then points in the direction of the main gate.]
Me? What about you?
You're not going to leave.
She frowns. Glances in the direction of the casino, then the exit, then back in the direction of the casino. She shrugs... without strength or conviction. She isn't looking at you when she does.]
If I could leave, I would.
[She looks at you for a moment, glances at your collar, shrugs. She then lightly grabs her neck with both hands, holds it for a moment.]
