Tales from the West Virginia Hills is a perk magazine and holotape series in Fallout 76.
Background[]
Tales from the West Virginia Hills is a pre-War magazine series that features stories about different monsters from West Virginian folklore. Each issue comes with two holotapes containing a two-part radio play written by Steven H. Patterson, detailing people who have come into contact with these creatures. Each is set out in a simple formula: the first holotape describes the protagonist(s) being set up to encounter a monster, with the second holotape covering the encounter before ending on a sinister, ominously vague note. The cover art for the magazine depicts the monster of each issue and the would-be victim(s).
Characteristics[]
Reading an issue of Tales from the West Virginia Hills will temporarily give the player character a damage bonus specific to the "monster" featured in the issue. All bonuses expire after 30 minutes (60 minutes with Curator), and the magazine is consumed once read. Part 1 and 2 of the accompanying holotapes are added to the player character's inventory upon retrieving the magazine, and the holotapes have additional set spawns.
Issues of Tales from the West Virginia Hills are affected by Pannapictagraphist and will emit directional audio when the player character is in range.
Magazine issues[]
| Editor ID | Issue | Effect | Form ID |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | #1, Curse of the Wendigo | +15% damage against the Wendigo | 00430386 (book) 00430388 (ALCH) potion |
| 02 | #2, The Mothman Cometh! | +15% damage against the Mothman | 00432D60 (book) 004FE4E4 (ALCH) potion |
| 03 | #3, The Beast of Grafton | +15% damage against the Grafton Monster | 0043037E (book) 0043037F (ALCH) potion |
| 04 | #4, Sideshow Snallygaster | +15% damage against the Snallygaster | 00430380 (book) 00430382 (ALCH) potion |
| 05 | #5, Who Goes There? The Strange Encounter in Flatwoods | +15% damage against the Flatwoods Alien | 00430383 (book) 00430385 (ALCH) potion |
Story summaries[]
#1: Curse of the Wendigo - Wealthy Corvega auto assembly plant owner Richard Moore's willingness to speed up production past safe limits results in a radiation leak. Although exposed to the energy, he survives but begins showing an insatiable hunger for meat. When his son checks in, he finds his father has devolved into a feral, skeletal creature, who implicitly attacks him out of hunger.
#2: The Mothman Cometh - A young girl named Mary Scarberry awakens in her bedroom, surrounded by her worried family. She describes how she was coaxed by some friends to go climbing the dangerous Fayetteville Railroad Bridge, where they encountered a strange creature like a giant humanoid moth. She recounts it saving them from being hit by an oncoming train. Leaving her to rest, the adults reveal that while it saved Mary, it dismembered her friends and left their bodies in high trees. As they talk, the Mothman suddenly smashes into Mary's room, destroying her nurse robot and abducting her before the adults can arrive to protect her.
#3: The Beast of Grafton - A couple of teens named Robby Cochrall and Peggy Mansfield are run off the road by a hulking headless monster as they speed home from a late-night date. Fleeing into the woods, they stumble across an old hospital and try to take shelter there, only to learn too late that the monster they saw is one of several crafted by the resident doctor from human test subjects; and he has just injected the pair of them with the mutagenic formula.
#4: Sideshow Snallygaster - Two young boys, Billy Harding and Teddy, are attending the Tyler County fair, where they hear a barker advertising a snallygaster on display. Billy's father doesn't believe the story or even Teddy's claim he heard from some of the carnies that it escaped, and he heads home, leaving the boys behind. Heading into the sideshow, they find the snallygaster is real and has killed at least one carnival goer already. They are saved by the carnival barker... who then ominously notes that he can't afford the bad publicity if the boys reveal he let his monster kill somebody, so he implicitly feeds the two of them to the snallygaster before packing up the carnival and moving on.
#5: Who Goes There? The Strange Encounter in Flatwoods - A young Pioneer Scout named Fred Fisher awakens in a strange, dark place with a girl named Sally. He describes being lured to an old mine shaft by strange lights in the sky, whereupon he blacked out. Sally describes their "hosts" as beings who like to play strange games involving needles. A door suddenly opens, and in the light, Fred sees that Sally (who has begun a monotonous chant of "Time to play") has some kind of weird helmet seemingly screwed to her head and that their captors aren't human. The production finishes with the narrator claiming that Fred was found by the Flatwoods river several days later, unharmed but disorientated and with two small wounds on each temple. He still searches for Sally.
Holotapes[]
| Editor ID | Issue | Location | Location Description | Form ID |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Who Goes There? - Part 1 | Flatwoods Tavern | Kitchen counter | 00534F49 |
| 02 | Who Goes There? - Part 2 | Flatwoods | In the mailbox of the house immediately north of Delbert Winters' trailer home. | 00534F4A |
| 03 | The Beast of Grafton - Part 1 | Grafton | In the mayor's office, first floor, in the employees only room, next to a safe on a metal wall shelf. | 00534F4F |
| 04 | The Beast of Grafton - Part 2 | Grafton | In a voting tent east-northeast of the Grafton clocktower/church. Face the front door and look to the left on the road behind the building. The tape is on a wood table just inside the righthand side of the tent next to a ballot printer. | 00534F50 |
| 05 | The Mothman Cometh - Part 1 | Point Pleasant Lucky Hole Mine |
On the front counter of the Mothman Museum. On the lectern by the coffin alter, in the mine. |
00534F53 |
| 06 | The Mothman Cometh - Part 2 | Point Pleasant | In a bedroom on the upper level of the brick building southwest of the church. Take the fire escape up from the pickup truck on street level. The holotape is next to a mothman poster. | 00534F54 |
| 07 | Sideshow Snallygaster - Part 1 | Watoga Estates | In the concession stand near the monorail. | 00534F5A |
| 08 | Sideshow Snallygaster - Part 2 | Watoga Civic Center | In the concession booth near section B5. | 00534F5B |
| 09 | Curse of the Wendigo - Part 1 | Uncanny Caverns | On the front desk in the entrance building. | 00534F60 |
| 10 | Curse of the Wendigo - Part 2 | Uncanny Caverns | Inside the Uncanny Caverns. Located in the rear of a tunnel behind path marker 4 | 00534F61 |
Locations[]
The magazines are randomly found throughout Appalachia, including a selection of potential spawn points.
Notes[]
The benefit description of issue #5 refers to the "Flatwoods Alien" instead of the more consistent term "Flatwoods Monster."
Behind the scenes[]
Audio engineering company Big Yellow Duck worked on the radio plays for Tales from the West Virginia Hills.[1] Bill Lobley voiced the series' narrator. Other actors who contributed to the radio play's voiceover include, but are not limited to: Tim Boardman, Erich Schuett and Stephen Russell.
Bugs[]
When picked up the number is decremented, for example picking up #3 will give the player #2 & picking up #1 gives the player #5. [verified]
Gallery[]
Images[]
References[]
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