Adam stared at the two dead lakelurk kings for a few moments before he looked to Deccanus and nodded. Deccanus nodded back and the two slowly approached the hole that the others fell through.
Upon getting there Adam saw the dead bodies of 3 mirelurk kings stacked on top of each other, all having died from falling through each floor of the building. However it was only after counting a few times that he realized the fourth one was missing.
Without missing a beat Deccanus shot a round which made Adam look up and see that the fourth one had climbed all those stairs again, but with a broken leg. Deccanus had shot it in the head killing it finally.
"Is that all of them?" Adam asked, uncertain if more would show up.
"Yes." Deccanus said assuredly. "There were only 6 down below, I cannot account for the surrounding area but if there are more there cannot be many left. A nest bigger than this would have trouble maintaining its population without a stable supply of food. If anything we would simply need to be wary of regular mirelurks instead." Adam nodded. But then looked puzzled.
"These… things don't look like crabs, why are they called lakelurk kings? They are very clearly a different species." Adam asked, hoping to get an old Salvatore question he had from when he first saw lakelurks.
"Indeed. They are not crabs." He said matter-of-factly as he stepped over the hole and proceeded to inspect the creature. "However the two species have a symbiotic relationship. The increased intelligence of the kings allow them to more effectively run nests and the mirelurk benefits from their control. Where there are mirelurk kings there are plenty more mirelurks."
"Are we in danger then? I mean we did just take out 8 kings."
"No." Deccanus informed as he turned around to look at Adam again. "It's the opposite. Other than Queens, the kings sit at the top of the hierarchy for lakelurks, by killing the kings of this nest we have effectively established dominance and broken their leadership. They are now no more than mindless creatures again, and ones who know better than to head to the surface lest they share the same fate, at that."
"Alright then…" Adam then looked at the three dead creatures in front of them then the ones down the hole. "Are uh… these valuable enough to carve up too?" He asked, uncertain if that was even worth it.
"Yes but…" Deccanus began as he cut down the center of the lakelurk king's chest and belly spilling its intestines out. "I do not believe we have a need to do so." He looked at the dead creature again before looking at Adam. "The meat is not nearly as good, often too tough to be softened. In addition there is not much meat to begin with, so it's best to leave it behind." He then took his machete and began to carve the head fins off the kings one by one. Adam was curious why he was doing that but had a different question.
"Wait, you said they are intelligent?"
"Yes." Deccanus responded, not stopping his task. "Not as much as human, however, but comparable to an average super mutant." Adam nodded slowly.
"Then that attack yesterday, the one where the lakelurks stacked on top of each other that was-"
"Likely the work of mirelurk kings, a tactic only they could think up." He finished Adam's sentence as he also finished his carving. "It is speculation, but it is fair to assume these kings might have been the orchestrators of that attack. Even if not them they would have been a major nuisance to the people of The Pier. It could be worth a bounty to turn in evidence." Now Adam understood why he took the head fins.
"So you took the fins to prove we killed them."
"Yes." Deccanus said with a firm nod. "I will head down below to get the others done and then join you again." Adam smiled.
"Wonderful, I'll begin scavenging then."
The two then began their work. It did not take long for Deccanus to rejoin Adam, however the actual scavenging took much longer. There were four apartments on each floor, each with multiple rooms, six floors with four apartments each meant 24 living spaces that needed to be checked. In addition to that there were the storefronts below, adding in an additional five. Meaning there were 29 total spaces he had to check. 28 realistically since he already finished looting the one room they hid in while Deccanus healed. In other words, it took a while.
By the time the two of them were done it was late, the sun was already beginning to set. Their bags were full and both men were ready for a rest back at the hotel.
Overall Adam had found a number of items worth selling, however for the first time ever most of it was clothing. A lot of nicer looking clothing had survived, from suits to summer dresses. The biggest boon here was he could grab a ton of them and stack them in his bag neatly.
Of course he got much more than just clothing, from Nuka Cola to magazines, to even a little miniature sentry bot statue that he would keep and not sell because he thought it was cute, he definitely came out of this well stocked. Almost everything came from the apartments themselves, the stores below proved to be a waste of time. Whether it be due to looting in the past or due to the actions of the mirelurks, they were practically empty. Still, it was a good haul and a worthwhile endeavor.
The two men walked back to town feeling good about themselves and their actions. Especially since their bags were loaded.
Upon arriving at the town the guards let them back inside without a fuss though Adam paused before heading inside.
"Do you mind if I ask you a question?" Adam asked, politely, to the guy on duty outside the gate. He simply shrugged.
"Sure, I'm standing out here whether you talk to me or not so It's better to chat to kill time."
"Wonderful." Adam then looked at Deccanus and then back at the guard. "Actually we killed a number of lakelurk kings in a spot not too far from here, my partner suggested you might have a bounty on them here?"
"Oh yeah! The only good lakelurk king is a dead one." He grinned. "How many did you get? And you do have proof, yes?"
"Of course, we have proof." Adam smiled. "And we killed 8 in total." The man looked impressed, whistling a bit.
"Wow, hell of a fight you must've had. That will be worth turning in for. If you want to talk to someone about collecting on the bounty head to the back of the pier, near where the largest fishing trawler is, that's the kiosk that guests use for booking passage. However, the people there can also process the bounty for you." Adam smiled brightly.
"No problem, always happy to help out a fellow hunter!" He chuckled. "Besides, I'm not going to dick over the outsider who helped us with the last lakelurk attack. You did good by us, as far as I'm concerned."