Mod:Washington's Malevolence/The Brig

"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 during upcoming events.

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:


 * Player only clears the regular Mirelurks: Kassius sneers at the player and gives them no reward at all.
 * Player clears the regular Mirelurks and the Mirelurk Hunters in the cell blocks: Kassius gives them 1 Cram and 1 Purified Water as a reward.
 * Player kills the Mirelurk Blaze: Kassius gives them 5 Cram and 3 Purified Waters as a better reward.
 * Player destroys the rock pillar at the entrance to the caves with the supplied Auto Axe: Same as killing the Blaze.

Upon completing Round and Round, the basement becomes permanently inaccessible, and the player is sent back to their cell no matter the outcome of the events in the basement.

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, or alternately, the Mirelurks can be lured into the narrow hallways to make them easier to pick off one-on-one. (Thanks to laclongquan for mentioning this!)

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 talking to Kassius to start this quest, as there are two things that can make 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. To get through the door, there are multiple options:
 * Three notes that contain the passcode (which is 5-3-2-2-4-6) to the keypad lock located in various locations throughout the jail island area.
 * Kassius's code in the kitchen on a counter near the refrigeration area on the west side.
 * Sterling's code on the patrol platform on the west side of the jail, accessible from the second floor of the jail (the only door on the west wall of the second floor).
 * Pence's code near the felled tree on the northeast side of the jail grounds, on a debris pile.
 * A Very Hard-level hackable terminal next to the door that opens the door.
 * The player also has the option to access the terminal in the back of Pence and Shilling's office to clear the IFF data of the turrets in the halls which will frenzy the turrets during the jail escape.

Loot/Items of Interest
This is a section dedicated specifically for designating any object that can either be designated as loot, or be used to satisfy hardcore needs during the player's "visit" to the jail. (Thanks to laclongquan for reminding me that I needed to do this!)

First Floor

 * There are several refrigerators with food on the first floor:
 * One in the back side of the Pirates' office on the north side of the first floor, through the stairwell.
 * One in the cafeteria.
 * Six in the kitchen where the player's equipment is found later on in The Brig.
 * Almost every single cell has a toilet that provides a source of water... if you can stomach drinking nasty-ass toilet water.
 * Sixteen fresh apples can be found in the jail's cafeteria.
 * A bowl of noodles can be found in the jail's kitchen on the north side near the refrigerators.

Second Floor

 * Almost every single cell has a toilet that provides a source of water... if you can stomach drinking nasty-ass toilet water.
 * There is a Nuka-Cocktail in the first cell on the right heading south from the stairwell to the third floor.
 * There is a Nuka-Cola in a toilet in one of the cells nearest to the stairwell to the third floor. At the first junction, turn left and it is in the second cell to the left.

Third Floor

 * Almost every single cell has a toilet that provides a source of water... if you can stomach drinking nasty-ass toilet water.

Basement
(Important: Upon completing Round and Round, you will lose the Doctor's Bags, Stimpaks, and food items collected in the basement. You will not lose any other items collected.)


 * Almost every single cell has a toilet that provides a source of water... if you can stomach drinking nasty-ass toilet water.
 * There are four water fountains available for use, one in front of each guard office at the cell block intersections.
 * There are four Sneak skill books located in the cells:
 * One in the closest cell to the stairwell, in the southwest cell block.
 * One in the closest cell to the north guard room, in the northwest cell block.
 * Two in the northeast-most cells (one per cell).
 * There are three Doctor's Bags in the basement:
 * One in the west locker rooms in the lowest level of the basement.
 * One in the second cell from the bottom on the west side of the southwest cell block.
 * One in the north guard room on top of the filing cabinet directly across from the entrance.
 * Stimpaks are scattered all around the basement:
 * One in the cell second-closest to the stairwell in the southwest cell block, located inside the toilet.
 * One in the fighting pit in the southwest corner on a table.
 * Two in the west locker rooms on the lowest level next to the fighting pit.
 * One in the west guard room on the console directly across from the entrance.
 * Two in the east guard room on the desk across from the entrance.
 * One in the second cell on the right in the southeast cell block.
 * Two in the north guard room, one across from the entrance and one to the right on a desk.
 * (TTW) There is also a Super Stimpak located in the north guard room, across from the entrance to the right on a desk.
 * Various junk food and unpurified waters are located throughout the cell blocks.
 * All four cell blocks have at least two usable beds per block.

Behind the scenes

 * 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.