5 - The Sorrows and the Dead Horses

[A/N: Whoops I accidentally hit the hay after I got home from a nine-hour shift]

Although I soon enough arrived at the entrance to the Sorrows Camp, I considered if I should even continue my approach after having encountered dozens of traps the Sorrows had hidden in both the dirt and water of the river, with one bear trap nearly taking off the leg of the Spore Carrier I was controlling.

Eventually, I did indeed decide to retreat, instead hunting some small critters around the area and leaving them as a gift from a crate that was laying around in the camp that made my Colony here in Zion Valley.

I would have left a note too, but I had nothing to write with or on, perhaps I could carve and chip away at a slate tablet? Perhaps in the future.

Once I left the crate at the entrance of the Sorrow's home, I positioned the Spore Carrier in a place it wouldn't be easily spotted or seen and had it watch over the area, I wanted to see how the tribe would react to my gifts.

Then, I simply took control of yet another of my Spore Carriers still waiting at the camp and began heading south, having to swim across the river where my Spore Carrier climbed up the small 'Clear Water' doc, and along the river passing by the Fishing lodge, east fork bridge, and the virgin fork campgrounds before I eventually reached the Dead Horse's canyon.

Just like before, I left them a crate of whatever I could hunt and forage as a gift before hiding the Spore Carrier away somewhere he wouldn't be easily spotted.

With those two Spore Carriers now watching over the two entrances, I shifted my focus over to the patches of Spore Carriers and Plants that were spread throughout the valley through the caves.

[A/N: I completely forgot that some Spore Carriers and Plants were located in the Cueva Guarache Cave, and Three Spore Plants in Morning Glory Cave, so yeah, I went back and updated the status]

Other than the Vault 22 camp where a majority of my Zion Valley Spore creatures were located, there existed a couple of Spore Carriers and Plants located in two of the caves located across the valley, specifically, the Cueva Guarache and Morning Glory Caves.

In Cueva Guarache, four spore carriers and three spore plants lay in wait, to ambush any unsuspecting intruders while in the Morning Glory cave, there were only three Spore Plants.

Wanting to test something, I had two of the Spore Carriers in the Cueva Guarache cave move to the Morning Glory cave, making their numbers even.

I would have just moved all of the Spore Carriers to the camp but I didn't want to leave the Spore Plants unprotected since they were immovable and stuck where they had grown.

If I 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥, I would just move all of the Spore Carriers and Plants in the Valley to the Campsite since it was probably the easiest place to protect since it was a just area of land on the other side of the river in a small nook and cranny with the only other notable location in that stretch of land being that of the Ghost Den, a den where the player would fight 'Ghost of She' a flaming Yao Gui for her unique gauntlet.

Speaking of which, I wanted to clear out the small valley that made the den of the Yao Gui so that I could hopefully spread out into it with my Spore Creatures, but I would at least give it a few days since I wanted to test something first.

Was there a limit to what I could infect to turn into a Spore Creature?

Could I guide the process? Make improvements to the creature with my spores?

So much to do...

Throughout the whole night, I kept an eye out on the two camps, waiting to see when they would find my gifts.

And throughout the night, I spent my time with a Spore Carrier gathering various items and things from around the Valley and dragging them back to the camp, accidentally crippling one of my Spore Carriers to a plasma mine that was hidden away in some dirt in one of the caves.

The Spore Carrier, while still alive, had both of its legs, the lower part of its torso, and one of its arms completely melted off, so of course, I had to get another Spore Carrier to retrieve and drag the Spore Carrier back to the camp, only for it to almost lose its foot to a hidden bear trap.

If there was one thing you could say about Randal Clark, was that he was quite the trapper and Survivalist.

Randall Dean Clark (February 5, 2053 – January 23, 2124) was a former U.S. Army soldier who took refuge in Zion National Park following the disaster of the Great War. His solitary existence and fierce protection of the inhabitants of Zion against outside threats earned him a mythical stature among his wards, leading to his establishment as The Father in the Cave, a divine figure of the Sorrows.

His intermittent journal entries and camps scattered throughout Zion act as his autobiography. Beginning with the war and the loss of his family to the bombs. Clark's tale details how he waited out the worst of the radiation, then set out into the light once more, adapting to the new flora and fauna as it, too, adapted to this new world. It mentions him helping others survive, as well as raining vengeance on those who would butcher innocents. It shows him becoming "The Father," his life ending with the rebirth of a group of children into the Sorrows tribe and Clark unwittingly immortalized as their deity.

As you could guess, I had endless respect for Randal and his story.

This is why, once I find his skeleton, I planned on burying him at the center of Zion Valley in honor of his memory, and if possible, I would make sure that the Sorrows and Dead Horses were safe from harm.

In his time in the valley, Randal lived in almost every single cave in the valley, and in each of these caves where he set up camp, he set traps, and defenses, and even set up generators for power.

Not to mention with his time in the military, the man was a fighter, and in each of the caves that he called home, he had crates of supplies, weapons, ammo, and whatever else he could scrounge and put to use.

I wanted to gather these supplies at the camp and begin giving what I couldn't use or didn't need to the tribes, arming them and teaching them how to protect and better themselves.

So, I was doing just that, spending what few hours I had left before daytime to gather what I could and haul them back to the camp. At this time my control over the Spore Carriers only continued to increase.

Just before sunrise, I noticed movement with one of my Spore Carriers.

It seems that the Sorrows had begun waking up, and soon enough, an early riser noted the crate that I had laid just outside the canyon that made their homes they were leaving their home to I could assume to hunt or check on their traps that were spread out across the valley.

Due to the distance, I had no idea what the woman said, but I did see her rush back into the canyon where she led out a lot more of her tribemates to the box, where they all seemed to surround it and began...praying?

Fuck...did they misunderstand it and think it was a gift from their 'Father' deity?

Well...shit. I should have probably realized that would have happened, nothing I can do about it now.

While they seemed to worship the box at first, they eventually opened it to see the gifts I gave them and found a bit of gecko meat, gecko hides, and various fruit and vegetables I found around the valley.

I could only assume they thanked me seeing as they rushed back into their home and not even an hour later, I could see a column of smoke coming from their canyon.

It seems they were having a feast to celebrate the 'Gift' they received.

Meanwhile, the Dead Horses also found the gift as well yet seemed to keep to themselves.

I noticed that they also seemed incredibly aggressive as well, though they kept to themselves, bringing my gift back into their home where I could only assume they ate or got rid of it.

Meanwhile, I had seen no signs of either Daniel or Joshua, telling me that I must have been at some time before the events of New Vegas, as for the year, I had no idea, but at least it meant I had time to prepare.