I have been playing Fallout 4 ever since its release and have become obsessed with creating unique characters, as I tend to do with Bethesda games. Similar to my character builds in Skyrim: Pom Pom the Illusionist, Puck the Prospector,  Sandora the Shieldmaiden, Nicole the Traveling Merchant, & Bael the Thief, my Fallout 4 character builds will be exploring obtuse archetypes and roles typically reserved for NPCs instead of hero characters. These builds concentrate on mechanics and narratives that often go ignored in favor of more viable or powerful strategies.

This is the second of many character articles I will be producing based on my own personal character builds in Fallout 4; today I’m introducing Lucky Lark.

A man’s best friend

Upon exiting Vault 111 Lark can’t help but laugh, all his life he had considered himself a lucky son of a gun, but it seemed that the cruelty of his lucky fate meant sparing his life in the blast of the nuclear war he barely escaped, only to release him into the fallout 200 years later.

After searching through the wreckage of his old neighborhood Lark decides there isn’t much of a life left for him in this world and that the only truth he knows is that somehow, someway, he will get lucky and land on his feet, so he decides to just roam the wasteland for a bit, securing the things that he needs to survive, a firearm, food, medicine, and shelter.

Along his travels he encounters a beautiful and friendly pup named Dogmeat and decides that if there is one thing he knows he can rely upon it is the faithfulness of a canine companion and makes up his mind to stick with the mutt and care for him.

The helpless and the raiders

As Dogmeat and Lark make their way along the roads, seeking out homes to rummage through, and hold up in through the nights, they make their way to Concord.  At the sight of a gang of pistol waving raiders both of them crouch down keenly aware that of the threats that the wasteland possesses none presents more of an unknown than humans.

Unfortunately, the two are spotted and immediately engaged by the entire pack, hurling death threats and molotov cocktails the raiders mean business.  Lark takes cover behind a wall only to see Dogmeat charging headfirst at their leader, Lark laughs heartily at his own cowardice and decides to join in the fun, charging in after Dogmeat.

The two of them somehow manage to take out all the enemies in a single blitzed rush, a surprised Preston Garvey shouts his appreciation from the balcony of the besieged building and warns that there are more of them inside and pleads for help. Lark feeling emboldened by his and Dogmeat’s apparent invincibility, storms the front doors and dispense with the raiders in the building with as much ease as they had with the raiders they bested on the streets of Concord.

Upon reaching Preston, Lark learns of their tale of woe and misfortune, he sits with Mama Murphy and listens to her tales, the prophecy that he and Dogmeat were meant to find each other. Touched by the settlers’ stories of strife in the wasteland, he decides to help them escape Concord.  Yet, as the adrenaline wears off he realizes that, lucky as he may be, he will not be able to truly protect the settlers in the long term, and he knows that he is not the leader they are looking for. Thus, Lark and Dogmeat make their way out of Concord and follow the train tracks north in hopes of finding more loot and a safe place to lay their heads, away from the conflicts of man.

This is the first installment in my character series titled Lucky Lark, if you enjoyed it please feel free to read through the other articles within the series. I welcome discussion on the design of this character, if you have experiences of your own you wish to share please respond to the thread for this article, or talk to me through my email or any of my social media: playprofessor@gmail.com, Facebook, Twitter.

Play Professor is the blog of ludologist and video game journalist Andrew Mantilla. You can check out more of his content on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube.