The risk is worthwhile. Knowing what lurks in the dark underground depths beneath your settlement may come in handy in the future.

You silently consider the old man's offer.

"It's risky... Clearing the rubble, exploring the long underground corridors. In addition to manpower, this will require armed guards. But what if inaction leads to worse consequences? Only with knowledge will I be able to take adequate measures and protect the lives of all the inhabitants of The Green Oasis..." - your thoughts lead you to a conclusion regarding the justification for continuing to explore the territory of the bunker.

A hunched old human with a graying mustache and a bald head respectfully awaits your verdict, bowing.

"Well... I authorize the continuation of the exploration of the corridors of the bunker and clearing the rubble. I will give the order to Ben. The work will require a dozen workers and the same number of armed guards. You can go, Gregory!" - You answer the old man's offer.

Gregory the Scribe bows to you again, mutters words of gratitude and leaves your office.

It takes you about an hour to give detailed instructions to Ben regarding the allocation of workers and guards for the new task.

He does not quite understand the meaning of continuing the exploration of the bunker, but obeys your order.

When you are about to rest and have dinner, you hear the sound of loud footsteps outside the door of your office.

Someone is in a hurry.

You turn around and see Tina running into your office. Her blue-black hair flutters down to her shoulders, her dark brown eyes are wide and look at you with concern. She was obviously in a hurry to get to you and is out of breath.

You look at her questioningly.

"Dar… I meant… Mister mayor! We have a problem! You better see it with your own eyes…" - her trembling voice demonstrates the seriousness of the situation.

You sigh and put the bottle of **** and the jerky aside.

Looks like you'll have to find another time for dinner...

Tina takes you to the eastern sector of the settlement.

Approaching a cluster of huts and a small shop of scavekger's stuff, you see a small crowd of local inhabitants who are clearly demonstrating growing discontent bordering on anger.

A little more and the development of events can lead to unpredictable negative consequences.

"Get out, stinking ghouls! Because of you, the settlement was attacked! Because of you, many died! Fucking scums!" - the hubbub of the crowd quite clearly indicates the dominant mood.

You look more closely: almost everyone in the crowd looks like ordinary humans. Men, women, old people, there are even children. The crowd surrounds the shop of scavekger's stuff and several nearby huts. You see that a small group of ghouls is standing there. These are intelligent ghouls, some of the inhabitants of your settlement. Like many others, these persons have recently come to The Green Oasis in search of a quiet life.

However, the appearance of ghouls has always caused disapproval among many. This is not surprising: many are extremely unpleasant to see a half-rotten corpse walking around with pieces of peeling skin and bone fragments protruding through the vile flesh. And if this "corpse" lives next to your own family... Negative feelings only get worse.

"You stinking rotten bastards! Your shitty "kins" killed my dad!" - the cry of one of the teenage girls clearly shows you what exactly served as the "last straw".

Mass casualties during the attack of feral ghouls.

Indeed, despite the successful defense, there were many dead and wounded.

And now the relatives and friends of these persons have decided to "take action" against what, in their opinion, was the cause of what happened.

Tina calls one of the armed patrols closer. The guards push the crowd a little further away from the ghouls.

But at that moment, an old woman from the crowd notices you and shouts: "Mister Mayor! Please take action! Because of these ghouls, my son was injured and he is still **** to treat the wound on his left hand! Drive these vile monsters out of our settlement! I am sure that these monsters are to blame for the recent attack - they opened a bunker and released their "kins"!"

Indeed, in order to somehow (at least temporarily) smooth out the situation fraught with conflict, you need to take action right now.

So, what will you do?

Will you try to calm everyone down with a conciliatory speech in the hopes of temporarily alleviating the discontent?

It is possible, but the effect will obviously only be temporary.

Or will you decide to eliminate the problem entirely and do what the crowd asks?

There are not many ghouls in your settlement…

Probably about four or five dozen.

But this means that The Green Oasis will worsen relations with all ghouls. Your settlement will stop accepting refugee ghouls and ghouls-merchants.

There are other solutions…

For example, you can create a special isolated quarter in the settlement in which only ghouls will live. But this will require the allocation of additional guards to enforce the rules.

So, what will your decision be?