Previous entries:

------------------------------

Leaving the Vault

Billings Farmstead

Reverend Tug

The Grafton Monster

Reverend No More

-----------------------------

Well this Vigilante business hasn't been as exciting as I expected... A few calls for an armed escort. One from a vault for security on opening day...."The other guy really dressed the occasion...". I even sit around my base with goody bags, as a bit of a self promotional kinda thing...But most of the time I sit around waiting on calls...Just twiddling my thumbs.

BEEP BEEP BEEP.

I get an emergency broadcast on my Pipboy...

"On this night of the third moon, those who believe shall be bestowed an eternal blessing by our master. He will appear at the Landview Lighthouse when the moon is most high."

...Man...people are so weird now ada...

In that moment the door flies open with a loud crash! I jump out of my seat and ready my combat knife. Adrenaline pumping, hair on end, and the cold steel of the knife sending even more chills through my body. My eyes are locked on the door waiting for my assailant...only to wait for a long enough time to find it was nothing. Probably Just the wind, but then I see it. Through the open door and deep into the trees I see two giant eyes staring (what seems like) straight at me.

More chills shoot through my spine, and my hair hasn't laid down yet....

I rush to the door and shut it, and slam up against it. Everything in my body is telling me not to look back into the woods, but something in my mind is pulling at my curiosity. Another shiver shoots through me as the wave of goosebumps move from head to toe. My hearing is tuned to the highest sensitivity as I try desperately to hear anything outside over my own heartbeat.

Thump Thump....

In rhythm my heartbeat is pounding in my ears. I hear nothing outside...I listen for my turrets. They whirr back and forth, no beeping from their targeting sensors...no winding up of the barrels...just the back and forth oscillating motions... This calms me a bit...but I still can't explain what I saw.

I slowly slide up to the window in the door and glance out. With a deep breath I peer out the window and see the eyes across the road. My blood runs cold As I can't explain what I'm looking at. My mind wanders to the darkest places trying to figure out what I'm seeing and it's coming up blank. Well within range of my turrets...it's like they're ignoring the eyes as they continue their back and forth motion. Fear freezes me in place as the eyes just continue to stare, unblinking. In a fleeting moment they vanish into the darkness. The space where the eyes were is blacker than the darkest night and then nothing... A bone chattering CHITTER echos through my house...my knees go weak and I fall to the floor. My hand begins to hurt and I glance down, the whole time I maintained a white knuckle grip on my knife, Like an idiot I left my bat across the room...

...Lord knows if that woulda been any use against it...

I collect my composure and allow my fear to run it's course. Before the Vault I remember all the urban legends in the area...but they where just that...legends.

...Could this be one of them? No...This is something caused by the radiation...just like everything else.

The message broadcasts again...

...Well I guess this is some real superhero stuff, I can go check it out...

The lighthouse is just a short walk from my C.A.M.P and I head that direction. Being extra cautious traveling through the dark woods. Sticking to the treeline I come upon the light house. Scanning the area I see fire and figures surrounding it. They look like people but, in strange shapes, and moving around...almost dancing, but a haunting, jerky motion. They have disfigured masks made of animal hide, bones, and Lord knows what. They seem to have makeshift wings too as they continue their uncomfortable dance around the fire. One guy off to the side isn't participating in the "Ritual". No costume and no dancing...they seem to just be playing a game on their Pipboy as their face is lit by a green glow. I move to get a better look when that same Chitter from before chills me to the bone. Again, frozen by fear I see the eyes...this time red, as it appears above the fire....

....Son of a...It's the Mothman....

The figures start bowing and hollering in an unfamiliar language as the Mothman's giant wings keep him afloat. There is a moment of awe and wonder, coupled with supernatural fear when you see something you can't explain and it has me locked in place...staring, unable to move...I watch the blood bath ensue. With a giant flap of it's wings he scatters the fire onto the closest Cultists, igniting their clothes. The screams begin to fill the air as they're unable to shed the clothes fast enough, and their flesh begins to burn. Mothman then turns its attention on the rest, With a supernatural grace, it dives head first at the remaining two, wings piercing the night with an uneasy silence. It reaches out two giant claws at them as they run. Each claw piercing the cultists in the torso with uncomfortable thuds of skin, and bone being separated. It then ascends faster than the fastest bird I've ever seen. it reaches 100' then vanishes in a cloud of dark smoke leaving the bodies to crash to the earth.

The Mothman reappears at the base of the lighthouse. Facing the fire with it's red eyes, and in a moments notice it turns my direction and stares straight at me. Still unable to move despite by best efforts, it seems that Fight is my only option...

....I have no idea what I can even do against this thing...

The red eyes are burning into my soul, and I swear I can hear it speaking to me. When a loud creak from the Lighthouse pierces the night. The kid from earlier is trying to close the door, and it seems to be jammed, his frightened face peering out at the chaos. The Mothman turns and begins to head that direction...against all reason I yell...

..."WAIT! Leave the kid out of this. He did nothing wrong."

The Mothman freezes and turns my direction. A loud chitter echos across the field and it stares back at me. The giant eyes begin to fade from red to the purple I saw earlier, and the tension in the air begins to fall. The voices in my head beckon me forward. Unwilling, or unknowing I approach the Mothman. Me, uneasy, and the giant eyes unblinking, stand there locked on each other. We speak for what seems like an eternity. Bestowing knowledge upon each other We learn what makes the other tic. He acknowledges me defending the boy, and says it was just. Conversations continue, though silence fills the air around us. Finally I tell him my mission, He could be my sidekick. With a loud CHITTER and display of dominance he declines, says his goodbyes and vanishes into the black of the night.

"...better off anyway...can't have him overshadowing me with this disappearing nonsense."

I check on the kid in the lighthouse. Shaken but not hurt, I take him back to my C.A.M.P for the night, feed him, clean him up, and tell him he can sleep on the couch. Tomorrow I'll have to see if he's better with a bat or a gun....

"Lord, I hope he can use one at least..."

-Tug

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

If you haven't seen the Mothman (good or bad) yet, Do the Path to Enlightenment event that shows up at the Landview Lighthouse just East of Vault 76.

​

​