Chapter 238 - If It Glows It's Gold.

As Afton stepped into the room he was greeted with a rather high tech-looking laboratory. There were many kinds of machinery, some of which even Afton didn't recognise with his maxed out Science Skill.

There were several charging bays were the robots probably got their power, as well as a bed next to what he could only guess to be a freezer of some sort. He ignored everything else though as he spotted his target in the corner of the room.​​

Klaus was crouched in the corner with a plasma pistol in-hand, pointing it directly at Afton as he trembled and twitched. "Y-you n-n-need to leave. I w-w-will kill yooouu~" he says, somehow seeming in worse health than ever.

"Don't you remember? We tried to leave but you kidnapped Anja here." Afton says while gesturing at her, "You brought this on yourself."

At his words, Klaus begins twitching even more furiously, until he for some reason drops his gun to the floor and slowly stands up, a growl emitting from his lips as the man's eyes go cloudy. Clearly, something had gone wrong so Afton checks him with [Living Anatomy].

[Klaus Seidel]

Health : 50%

Stamina : 20%

DT : 1

Strength : 5

Perception : 5

Endurance : 6

Charisma : 4

Intelligence : 1

Agility : 2

Luck : 5

Ailments :

[Hunchback] : Reduces charisma by 3 and agility by 4.

[Stutter] : Reduces charisma by 1.

[Ghoul Variant] : Reduces the stability of the mind as time passes, causes physical disabilities as time passes, grants biological immortality, grants immunity to radiation and the ability to absorb it, grants immunity to most diseases, viruses, parasites, etc.

[Feral Ghoul] : The afflicted becomes a mindless creature with its only goal to kill and costume human flesh. +3 Strength, +3 Endurance, and sets Intelligence to 1. Over time their body mutates to better suit the creatures needs, adding claws, larger teeth, and losing weight.

[Glowing One] : Ghoul slowly gains the ability to exude radiation at will, over time this ability will become stronger and stronger.

Yep, seems about right. Though, Afton would have never expected to see someone change into a ghoul. But you learn something new every day... The cause of this was probably the fact that Afton had killed the man's family and triggered some sort of psychotic break.

Afton shakes his head, regardless he'd put Klaus out of his misery... Or... His eyes linger on the affliction [Glowing One]... During his whole time in this place he'd been wondering how Klaus had powered it... And he'd only just realised that the Glowing One trapped in the cage hadn't just been there to cause mutations in people he'd kidnapped... No, above the ghoul he'd spotted some sort of energy converter.

Klaus had been using the glowing one to power the lab and everything else upstairs. Afton wanted to look into this further, but right now they still had a mission to do, one involving Vault 22.

Klaus lunges at Afton but he easily stops the hunch-back, grabbing an arm and giving a swift tug to dislocate it before dragging the newly made ghoul out of the lab. He gets Anja to find the controls and eventually they manage to lower the cage. Afton shoves Klaus inside and raises it again to keep the house powered for when they eventually return... But not before taking some samples from Klaus and his deceased family.

He puts them in the lab's freezer and disables the electricity to the first and second floor of the building. Afton glanced at the things Klaus was researching and found many things indicating that he was trying to create more glowing ones, the reason for this? The man wanted to start producing power for the wasteland via the glowing ones... It was a rather honourable cause for a nazi zombie, but Afton couldn't find it within himself to feel bad for dealing with him.

Now that Klaus wasn't around to kidnap people and protect the property, they'd need to lock down the lab to keep it safe.

Though, both doubted anyone would willingly come into the, especially since Afton wasn't turning off the mechanism that pumps radiation into the first and second floors.

With all of that done, Afton decides to make camp on the porch of the property... Yes, while he was somewhat resistant to radiation, if he lingered too long in heavily irradiated areas he'd eventually start having trouble.

Anja herself didn't want to sleep inside the house since the place still scared her somewhat, even with the owner caged like an animal.

Afton himself was very, very interesting in Klaus's research though... If he could somehow find a way to turn regular ghouls into glowing ones, he could power whatever he wanted. Though, he'd need to find out just why glowing ones were able to produce energy at seemingly no cost...

All in all, he considered this small adventure very, very, rewarding. Anja had gotten some 'practical' experience and Afton had gained ownership of a mad-scientist house, lab, and research. Not to mention the fancy clothes he was intending to keep. Not too shabby if he did say so himself.

The next day Afton stretches himself out with a yawn, during the night he'd thought over some ways of keeping raiders out of the house. Sure the radiation would slowly kill anyone who managed to get inside, but the place would long be destroyed before people realised the danger and left.

So, Afton had gathered some of the blood from the ghouls in the bunker and painted a huge warning sign on front of the house saying : "HEAVY RADIATION INSIDE, DO NOT ENTER!"

Afton claps his hands off and takes a good look at it before nodding, "Enough to scare off raiders you think?" he asks Anja who's standing at his side.

She shrugs, "If they are able to read then yes..."

...

Afton facepalm himself, damn, he'd forgotten that most raiders weren't even literate. BUT! This can be fixed! He gathers the blood and starts painting again, drawing a radiation symbol as well as a dead stickman. Yep, that'll do it. "Alright, if raiders can't understand that one then they deserve to die." he says before gesturing to Dirt-Bird, "Come on, we've still got work to do."

"Yes sir..." Anja mutters before climbing into the sidecar.