"Hell of an assumption to make isn't it?" I said pointedly.
"Are you not here to see us on our way? Rid the basement of the demons and preparations for the Great journey can resume." Jason said seriously.
I sighed "Fine, I guess we'll be clearing out the Nightkin. With these rifles it shouldn't take too long." I said a little reluctant.
"Praise the creator! Bless you! Bless us all!" Jason said before handing over the key to the basement and walking away to "tend his flock".
"So we are just going to kill all the Nightkin?" Adam asked curiously.
"Fuck no! Nightkin are only this disciplined if they have a leader. And the only way a leader is chosen is if they are both strong enough and smart, er more sane. That means we might be able talk our way out of this mess." I say with a grin.
"You want to negotiate with the eight foot tall invisible schizophrenic mutants?" Jess asked with a disbelieving look.
"That is what I said yes." I say nodding.
"Why are you in charge exactly?" she asked with a weird look.
"Charisma and because no one else volunteered. It helps I also have a ridiculous suit of armor and a bag of tricks that just doesn't end." I say simply.
"Right." she said giving Boone a look that he just shrugged at.
With that settled we left this little "sanctuary" and headed back down the metal stairs. Finding the basement was easy, we just had to follow the blood trail. The door down was the standard metal sort that were all over this building. Inside it was a set of stairs and like all the plumbing and wiring of the building on the ceiling and walls.-
Like always the place felt like it had been left abandoned for two hundred years, which it had. At the bottom of the stairs was a shiny stainless steel sliding door like the sort I found when opening the vault previously. Unlike that one however this one had already been forced to loosen up by a pair of VERY strong hands if the slightly crushed handle was any indication. Inside there was clearly the place where Jason's "flock" had been previously staying. You could tell because of the sleeping rolls on the floor near the barely functioning generators in the center of this decent sized room.-
"Alright people, we go in quiet and try not to spook the uglies until we find one that sounds like it's in charge. For this purpose we use their invisibility to our advantage. We'll blend right in so long as we don't speak with these because just like we can't see them they can't see us either." I say as I hand out the stealth boys we collected off the dead Nightkin before.
"Thank god you actually have a plan beyond winging it." Jess said in relief.
"Plan? What plan? This is a pure stroke of inspiration on my part." I said confused.
"It's better not to question the mind behind the method too much." Adam suggested helpfully.
Boone wordlessly took the stealth boy and strapped it to his wrist. Jess reluctantly did the same. I put my own on and activated it. For us nothing really changed beyond the fact we couldn't see each other or ourselves. There was a slight distortion in the ambient light around us but that was it. Like that we went through the metal doorway to the concrete and metal hallway of the basement with grated floors and wires and pipes running along the walls and ceiling.-
I cheated with my game knowledge and skipped the patrolling Nightkin to skirt straight to where I knew the leader of this group was. I uncloaked in front of the metal door that had muttering behind it which prompted the others to as well. I opened the door and inside there was a small office area with a desk covered in scrap as well as a cow skull resting on top of a broken coffee machine. Behind the desk stood the hulking blue skinned figure of a Nightkin with a red cloth Master uniform that had seen better days.-
"What's this Antler? Guests? Assassins more like! I say kill them Antler! For safes sake!" The brute said but I held up my hand to stop the flinch towards the rifles my companions made. The thing paused in it's aggresion however like it was listening to a voice no one else could hear. "Hmm? ...Okay, Antler. I'll ask. Uh, hi humans. Why you come here?" it asked almost politely.
"Okay so theres a story about that. See the feral ghouls you and your kin released have been going to Novac and we were asked to deal with the problem. Then it turns out that they belonged to the cult you and yours tore through before. And to get rid of that cult and solve the problem for good they need to come down here but you are here so they want us to try and convince you to leave." I explained.
"Uh, what?" the brute said scratching it's head in confusion.
"We're here on behalf of the ghouls upstairs." I simplified.
"A human who is friend to ghouls? Suspicious. You mean the ones upstairs. Antler used intercom, told them to stay put. But they want to come down in the basement anyways? I cannot allow. My kin are... not right in head like I am. They attack you on sight. Ghouls too. They crazy. Your ghoul friends have to wait until you find what Antler brought us to get." the brute said.
"Maybe we can help, make everyone happy?" I offered.
The brute nodded "Good. Antler brought us here for a reason.... Why was that , Antler?" it paused for a moment as if listening to a voice again. "Right! A piece of paper. Shipment invoice. Hundreds of stealth boys, sent here a long time ago. But Stealth boys must be in the one room. One we don't search yet, the one we can't search." it said with a little frustration.
"Why can't you search the room?" I asked calmly.
"A ghoul. But not squishy like others. This ghoul tough. I thought Antler said send my kin into that room. But three died. Ghoul is a crack shot and set traps too. After, I realize I heard Antler wrong. So I lock the door to keep kin out and wait for Antler to tell me what to do. Then you come along. Antler says you are solution." it says staring at us expectantly.
"If we find the Stealth boys you and your kin will leave in peace?" I asked and it nodded.
"Yes Antler says we leave here as soon as we get Stealth boys. Let me give you key. Antler had me lock the door. The ghoul inside not expecting a human. Maybe he don't shoot you. Maybe he will." it said putting a key on the desk lightly.