[Merchant] 0003

Deciding to obtain the last few scraps he needed to make his third prototype, he armed himself with his small 9mm pistol and a decent kitchen knife he found a while back.

He was wearing a simple, ragged outfit you’d commonly find on the homeless outside of the strip, which was what he preferred as it drew less attention to himself.

Tucking the gun beneath his shirt and pants, he left the knife visible on his belt to show that he was willing to defend himself and that he would not be an easy mark for those looking to earn some caps or something worse. 

Once he was ready, he stepped up the staircase that led down to the cellar, where he unlocked the door and removed some of his traps before climbing through into a pile of rubble that covered the entrance of the basement and hid the cellar from prying eyes. 

Once he was out of the cellar, he placed some of the lighter concrete slabs over the cellar hatch to conceal it, then climbed out to see that it was early in the morning and the harsh sun had yet to rise above the horizon. 

Briefly looking around, he stepped down from the rubble and began making his way east, towards the sewers. 

When the bombs dropped and many nukes were intercepted above the city, the people of Las Vegas still had to deal with the radioactive fallout, most fled into the sewers, where they turned into ghouls or died from the radiation poisoning, but they didn’t flee into the sewers with just the clothes on their backs, many of them took their valuables or weapons into the sewers with them.

The problem was that the Sewers were…not designed very well. Instead, they ended up being more like labyrinthian tunnels where one could get easily lost, not to mention all the critters that ended up in the sewers alongside the Feral Ghouls that were already down there and what few malfunctioning protections remained. Despite that, it was still one of the best places in New Vegas to scavenge, so long as you didn’t get caught by the Feral Ghouls or critters. 

What Jacob was looking for was one of the numerous maintenance rooms located in the sewers, which were typically left untouched and contained plenty of items to scavenge. However, it usually ended up being scrap metal or cleaning supplies, which, if that was what he found, he could at least earn a few caps selling. Though if he found copper it was particularly valuable, especially in regards to the NCR, as they always bet copper for a good many caps, which led to many other scavengers like Jacob to scaroungin for every piece of scrap they could, at least until the power grid, in which Mr. House and his securitrons stepped in, and told everyone that the energy grid was off limits.

And when House makes a rule, it's something everyone sane in New Vegas listens to, seeing as if you don't, you're likely either to be blacklisted by both the NCR and every New Vegas-affiliated merchant, but you'd also have to worry about getting on the bad side of Mr House. The last to do that was a Fiend who decided to try and disturb the strip's business. In the end, the Fiend was slain and his body sent back to the Fiends with a message from House.

You can have your little skirmishes with the NCR, but attack the Strip again, and I will ensure that you and your other 'Fiends' are stomped out of existence by the end of the day. 

That was one of the few times anyone's heard anything from House resembling a direct message, as he usually dealt with proxies or his Securitrons. Funnily enough, the Fiends never messed with any House-sponsored Caravans or even approached the Strip again. Sure, you can see them on the outskirts every once in a while, trying to deal with Chems or fighting with the NCR, but they didn't venture any further than that anymore.

Mr House was a powerful man, one none had seen in person yet, with even some rumors saying that he was some big shot from before the Great War and that he was some Ghoul or something to have lived this long, but despite that, he knew what he was doing if the success of the Strip was anything to go by.

Once Jacob reached the sewer grate, he briefly checked his surroundings once more before peeling the gate open and climbing down the ladder.

Jacob has ventured into the sewers more than a handful of times and has had many close calls, but he was one of the few who even dared to do so, which just meant more for him to scavenge and loot.

Closing the sewer grate above him before he climbed down, once he stepped down and caught his footing, he finally drew both the 9mm and the kitchen knife.

Every time he came down, he met the occasional Feral Ghoul or Molerate, so he at least knew how to defend himself already, but the added knowledge gained from the Hitman's manual would be a nice bonus.

Seeing everything was clear, he pulled out his makeshift attempt at a map of the sewers he had explored already, and yet he had only explored maybe a small percentage of the total sewer network below New Vegas.

Taking a good look at the makeshift map with the little light he had available, he made his decision. He started heading along the northeastern tunnel, as the sewer entrance he used lay at a crossroads of six different tunnels in the Sewer network.

As he made his way down the tunnel, he stepped over trash and stayed close to the walls to help him stay out of sight of anything he could run into further down in the tunnel.

The few lights that were still functioning down in the sewers were the emergency lights, and while most had gone out or stopped working in the years since the Great War, the ones that remained still gave enough light to bathe the sewers with plenty of light, but only in small areas, leaving most of the sewer in darkness.

Once Jacob had the time, he figured he'd make a light source to help him navigate the sewers, but until then, he would make do with what few lights he could see.

He could feel his heart racing and his blood continuing to boil beneath his skin, leaving him strangely energized and...twitchy, as he clenched the gun in his hand with each distant sound echoing down the sewer tunnels, especially as he was traveling down a tunnel he had yet to explore, leaving him with no idea of what he could run into down here.

About a...sixteenth of the sewers were cut off from the network and being used by the people of West Side and the 'Thorn', some arena where people fight the local mutants and creatures found in the Moajve for caps while also being able to place bets and gamble on who would win in the arena. Jacob hasn't ever entered the Thorn, as it was just not worth walking a mile or two back and forth.

As he traveled down the tunnel, he heard the distant roars of what sounded like Feral Ghouls and froze in place.

The last time he heard Feral Ghouls make that kind of screech, they swarmed the Sewers from their hiding places, and Jacob had to wait a few days for the Feral Ghouls to calm down before he even dared to reenter the Sewers.

Question was, who riled up the Feral Ghouls?