Mod:Washington's Malevolence/The Brig

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"The Brig" is the fifth quest in the main quest line of Washington's Malevolence. This quest and The Great Bank, Part I are bridged by an unnamed quest with the editor ID of "ZDISMQ05Bridge" that sets up an important part of the mod's story line. As of 3.x, this quest has a sub-quest titled Round and Round, meant to provide the player with an extra XP boost as well as shape the events of the jail escape.

The Story
The player awakens to the sight of a man leaning forward in front of them, Sterling, asking them if they are spooked. He goes on to detail his reasoning for capturing the player and others, which turns out to be so that they do not ruin the chances of his father's life work being ruined. Sterling gives the player the option of leaving or rotting in the jail cell for the rest of their life. At the end of his speech, he mentions that "that red-headed moron better not screw this up".

At this point, the player wakes up, and is approached by a ghoulified Pirate that asks them if they are leaving or staying; the player can choose to leave, which dumps them just south of the Citadel with no way back to the island.

Assuming the player told the Pirate they were staying, they are whisked downstairs with the other prisoners, who are revealed to be the survivors of the raid on Flackland by the Pirates. Pence, second-in-command of the Pirates, abruptly shushes the crowd as Sterling makes his way onto the junk platform to begin berating the prisoners. As he rants, the player hears a whisper. They turn around, and Jimmy is there, telling them that he is going to get them out of there, but they have to do exactly as he says. Pence overhears the whispering and tells them to shut up. Sterling admonishes Pence, as to call off his personal attack dog. The ranting from Sterling continues on until the player, Jimmy, and the prisoners are escorted back to their cells. The prisoners on the lower level are given their work assignments, as well as the player.

As the player waits in their cell, an alarm bell rings and all the cell doors open. The player exits their cell to find a work note attached to the clipboard mounted to the wall. The player is to immediately head to the door to the basement where they will be given further orders by their new handler, Kassius.

Prior to meeting with Kassius, however, the player may want to explore the jail first; doing so can pay off later on in the quest.

The player meets up with Kassius, where they are directed to clear the basement of Mirelurks. The player has three options at this point; clear the common area of regular Mirelurks, clear the cell areas of Mirelurk Hunters, and destroy/seal off the source of the Mirelurks. The player will be given different rewards depending on the actions taken here.

If the player only clears the basement of regular Mirelurks, Kassius sneers at the player and gives them no reward at all. If the player manages to take care of the Hunters in the cell, Kassius gives them 1 Cram and 1 Purified Water as a reward. If the player seals off the northern cave or kills the Mirelurk Blaze, Kassius gives them 5 Cram and 3 Purified Waters as a better reward.

Objectives

 * 1) Meet up with Kassius as per your work order.
 * 2) Clear the basement of Mirelurks.
 * 3) Return to Kassius for your reward.
 * 4) Plan an escape.
 * 5) Regardless of the choice made, recover your belongings from the kitchen of the jail and make your escape.

Strategy
You are given a special Auto Axe and repair instructions. The instructions detail how you are to repair the Axe should it break, by using Scrap Metal found in the basement, or regular Weapon Repair Kits.

If the player has high Agility, the player can circle strafe the Mirelurks to make killing them easier.

The Mirelurk Blaze in the northern cave is susceptible to the same strategy as well. However, be careful when approaching the Blaze; instead of the typical sonic attack, the Blaze launches a flaming projectile that explodes on contact, which can do enough damage to kill the player. It is suggested to swim to the back of the cavern and rush the Blaze to prevent it launching its deadly projectiles. The Mirelurk Kings follow the same guidelines without the flaming death projectiles.

It is suggested to explore the jail first before tackling this quest; it makes the jail escape easier depending on your actions. The player can access the 2nd floor armory to obtain more ammo and weapons for the distraction escape via a Sneak skill check.

The player also has the option to access the terminal in the back of Pence and Shilling's office to disable the turrets in the halls.

Trivia

 * The intro to the bridge quest was originally supposed to have a short animation of the player being dragged to their cell; due to technical limitations, this was not possible.
 * The pipelines traveling through the northern cave are colored yellow; according to ISO 14726, this is a standard color for flammable gas pipelines, which is how the Mirelurk Blaze got its abilities.
 * Originally, the player was able to leave Maddox Island at this point to return to the Capital Wasteland, putting the main quest line into a failure state and leaving them unable to return to the island. When the cutscene involving Sterling and Pence was added in, this option was removed as Sterling was the NPC that originally gave the player the option to leave when he visited them a second time in the prison cell (the raider that escorts them downstairs uses the original AI package that Sterling used). Sterling telling the player that they have an option to leave during the cell visit cutscene is a remnant of the sequence of events that led to the player returning to the Capital. This was later restored in 3.x, as an unnamed Pirate now gives the player the option to bail out of the quest and return to the Capital.