POV Rio
I had made the plan and placed bombs throughout Boston. I also added additional parts to the plan. The Workshop has a unique artillery round called Weather Change Shell. It did, as one would expect, triggering a thick fog. Admittedly, I was not fully sure how it worked. I had tried looking into it, but the math just didn't add up, so all I could chalk it up to was system nonsense.
"Okay, so what's the plan exactly?" MacCready asked.
"Well, we will be split into 2 teams. Cait, Dogmeat, and you will be in the Vertibird. Your job will be to snipe anyone that the bombs don't dislodge. I will lead the feral ghoul horde myself using a transformation and a physical device on my head," I say.
"What device?" MacCready asks.
I smile as he falls into my trap.
"I created a device that mimics the unique brainwaves that ghouls give off. It also gives off a unique radiation signature that will further attract feral ghouls. Then it gives off a magic signature that they seem predisposed to give off when they are labeled as leaders of a horde. Lastly, it gives off a unique frequency that only ghouls can hear. Or mostly only ghouls. Technically, dogs, cats, probably Deathclaws, and a few other creatures can also hear it, but it works especially well on feral ghouls, as they are fairly mindless. I call it the Feral Ghoul Master Baiter Device," I say with jazz hands.
"Groan," was everyone's response.
"Damn it, now got that image stuck in my head," MacCready said with annoyance and a scowl.
"What? Ohhhhhh... All of you have very dirty minds; you should get them out of the gutter. This is a very sophisticated device. It makes all the ferals in the nearby area all hot and bothered, to help them warm up on this cold winter day. Then it makes them come. Then once they have come, they will follow the orders of the leader," I say with a serious face.
"Groan," was everyone's response.
"Now you're just messin' with us," Cait responds.
"Yes," was my answer.
Everyone looks at me with a frown, so I put my hands up.
"Sorry, sorry, I couldn't resist the chance to make a joke to lighten the mood. I am quite nervous. I am, after all, going to be leading a horde of ferals that may get really large. I haven't been torn to pieces before, and I would like to keep it that way. I have done tests, but that doesn't mean something won't go wrong. Oh, and all of you need to wear this so that the Vertibird you are in makes it look like you are a part of the Enclave," I say while handing them some clothes and armor.
They take it and swap into the gear in a couple of seconds. After that is done, I explain to them what will happen in detail. The plan was fairly straightforward. They would perform overwatch from high altitude. I would lead the horde through Northern Boston and wipe out all the enemy camps I could. But before that, I would have 12 Fog Weather Changing Shells fire to cover all of Boston in a very thick fog. From my previous tests, the visibility would be reduced to around 1 meter. This gives ferals an advantage due to their reliance on sound rather than sight or smell.
I had designed a gross but effective mask for this plan. It was based on the Ghoul Mask from Fallout 3. It could fool the visual senses of a feral, but my helmet allowed me to appear as a Feral Ghoul based on brain waves. It would also signal me as the leader of the horde, which meant the ferals would follow my general orders. The orders were mostly mental in origin, but my magic allowed me to bypass that limitation. As long as I didn't damage the ferals in large numbers, the horde wouldn't attack me. And since I was immune to all forms of radiation, I could lead the horde without side effects. Even a normal ghoul couldn't do that, as it would cause probable early ferality.
The only reason it took me 3 days to execute the plan was that I needed to give Hancock the time to make Goodneighbor safe, should I use this plan. That meant changing the gate guards to ghouls and making sure that he had some people ready to have people shelter in place in any building they could. I could say with 99% certainty that ferals wouldn't wander too far from the horde due to my control, and if they do, then it will be only a few stragglers.
I took a deep breath, and we started our parts of the mission. I had to wait for the signal from Dogmeat to turn on the machine. Why Dogmeat, well, I assigned him the pilot seat so he could press a button to send the message. The AI could do it, but I felt like it would be mean not to give Dogmeat something to do, so I made sure he thought he had a very important task. Once the signal was received, I turned on the machine and waited. I was standing near Boston Common in the middle of the street.
Once it was turned on, I started to see many feral ghouls crawling out of various dark and dingy places. I could see them because I had my magic eyes activated. I needed to, as even I could only see perhaps a couple of meters in the fog. And that was with a Perception of 16. Almost anyone else would be blinder than a bat. As the first feral approached, I tried to stay calm and observe the thing. It was an interesting one. It was in a set of combat armor. It just got close to me and stood there.
Its mouth was slightly open, and I could smell it. It was quite rank. I cast a quick spell that blocked my sense of smell as I figured that would be for the best. The next ghoul to appear made me a bit more worried. The ghoul was a female ghoul in decent condition wearing a nurse's outfit, and she didn't come alone. What really made me nervous was that some of the nurse ghouls had knives, which I was under the impression feral ghouls didn't use. That and the fact that I recognized them from another game series that I didn't play much of.
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'Just ignore them. They can't tell you aren't really a ghoul. I'm just a feral ghoul that has a horn, a snout, and wings... Okay, maybe this was a bad idea.'
I just stood still and waited for the horde to gather. It took around 3 hours to attract all the ferals I could reasonably get. Which was fine as we started the plan at 4 am. So we were still on schedule. So I started leading the horde in a direction to the nearest Raider base.
POV Jimmy Jones The Radier
I was on watch for the morning, and I had to admit I was not sure why it was so foggy that I could barely see the tip of my nose. But it meant Tabitha and I could slack off. Tabitha was the butt of all our jokes as his parents gave him a stupid name. It just sucked that the guy was pretty terrible to talk to. And I can't mess with him, as the boss would get mad.
"Hey, do you hear that?" Tabitha asks.
'Sigh, oh boy, here we go again.'
"No, you're jumping at shadows," I reply.
"Yeah, you're probably right. Gotta cut down on the jet, I guess," Tabitha responds.
"Now don't start talking crazy," I joke.
We both start laughing. A mistake that we quickly regret. A feral ghoul comes out of the fog and tackles Tabitha. They don't even have time to fight back as the feral rips his throat to shreds. I pull my pistol out and blow its brains out, but then I hear the growls of several ferals behind me. I turn around and see an untold number of shadows in the fog.
"Oh sh..."
I try to scream, but I don't get the chance as a horde descends upon me and I get ripped to pieces.
POV Rio
I led the horde all across North Boston, and I was starting to get nervous. I was expecting to have most of the horde die off by now, but I still had over 5k ferals in my horde. I had cleared out most of the trouble sites, even managing to clear out places like Trinity Tower, Mass Fusion, and HalluciGen, Inc. The first two had some survivors that were out of reach of my horde. Now I was left with a tough decision. Do I lead the horde farther South and risk increasing the horde size even more and possibly risking some settlements, go North and face similar problems, go towards the Castle and let the artillery deal with them, or fly away and cause the horde to pick a new leader and just hope they disperse on their own?
As I was contemplating my decision, I received a message on my Pip-Boy. It solved most of my problems. The Gunners had gathered a large force of conscripts (former Raiders) and were leading them towards the Castle. They numbered over a thousand strong. Which meant I could kill two birds with one stone.
I started leading the horde Southeast towards the Castle and ended up picking more ferals. By the time we intercepted the Gunners, I had neared 6k. We found them right next to the South Boston Military Checkpoint. The Gunners didn't see us until it was too late. I backed up to the back of the horde and let the sounds of fighting draw in the ferals.
It was a bloodbath. The Gunners were decently equipped, and the ferals were mindless zombies running right at them. The Gunners had weapons that could cause a lot of damage, but the issue was that the leader couldn't control them that well, and they started to fire widely, which meant many had to reload at the same time. I did notice the leader was wearing a set of X-01 Power Armor. I found that odd, as those sets were extremely rare. Which meant this was likely a really high-ranking member. As even generals usually only got T-51 Power Armor.
The fight took so long that the nearby group of Super Mutants from Big John's Salvage joined the battle. It got so chaotic that I felt it might be a good idea to leave the battlefield, but I held off. Instead, I created a hole and jumped into it, then covered the hole. Then I observed from with my magic eyes.
The battle lasted for nearly an hour, and the winners were the ferals. But not by much. The ferals were reduced to 237. Many of them are Withered Feral Ghouls and other pale variants. Strangely, the nurses were still alive. I came out of the ground and I started leading the ferals towards the Castle, but I led them to the nearby area that had a few gangs of raiders and Super Mutants. We hadn't wiped them out yet, as they didn't approach the Castle. While doing so, I got another 94 ferals that came from the Drug Lab hidden in the Four Leaf Fishpacking Plant. Even with the additional ferals, the horde didn't last much longer.
We wiped out most of the Super Mutants, but the horde died out at the South Boston High School. The fog had started to fade by the time we arrived, and as we approached, I noticed something odd. The nurse ferals vanished with the fog. I won't lie, I was both confused and a bit spooked. A few raiders survived the horde, and I just finished them off.
'Now for the clean up.'
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Authors Note:
Spoopy scary skeletons. If you are scared of skeletons, beware, they are hiding inside you. Until next time, Ciao.