The Velvet Curtain

The Velvet Curtain is a side quest in the Fallout 3 add-on Point Lookout.

The quest leads the Lone Wanderer to find the whereabouts of missing Chinese agent Wan Yang, and use the Submarine self-destruct codes in her possession to destroy the stranded Chinese submarine SSN-37-1A.

Detailed walkthrough
Travel to the Homestead Motel north of Pilgrim's Landing, enter Room 1D and activate the terminal. Instructions to open a locker near the pier will be received. The key is found inside the suitcase on the bed. Take the key and travel to the boardwalk. Once at the locker (located on the right side of the boardwalk coming from the ferry), open it and take the holotape Box 1207 - Spy's audio password. If the terminal in the motel room or the one in the Detention Camp was not read, this will activate the quest. The holotape instructs the player to go to the People's Bank of Point Lookout and use a password to open a safety deposit box.

Once at the bank, go to the safety deposit box room and stand in front of the speaker. Activate the holotape received from the locker. The speaker will say "Processing... processing... Safety deposit access granted" upon which box 1207 will open. Pick up the holotape Espionage debriefing. This tape informs the player of Agent Jiang's mission to destroy a captured Chinese submarine, SSN-37-1A But first an a authorisation code to destroy the submarine must be found. The code is held by another agent, Agent Yang, hidden in a dental capsule.

Exit the bank, turn right and a few steps eastward will have the Lone Wanderer at the Naval Recruiting Center, which is just beyond the walled bumper car arena. Go through the door behind the counter on the left and activate the DIA Officer's terminal. Access the file "Field Report - Yang Capture/Transfer". Read it to learn the fate of Yang being captured by U.S. officials and detained at Turtledove Detention Camp.

Turtledove is directly north of the recruitment center. The camp is devoid of Swampfolk, but swarming with defense robots and ghouls. The player must enter the morgue and find Yang's body. A septic tunnel can be used to enter the morgue circumventing ghouls and robots. The player can also enter through the cellar door inside the camp. Once inside the mourge, open Yang's remains locker. The player will find the submarine self-destruct codes hidden within a false molar. Remove the codes and escape the morgue through the cellar door, or use the hatch located near the cremation chamber, which leads to the septic tunnel. In the tunnel, exit to the east of the Turtledove Detention Camp, in the swamps.

The player must then destroy the submarine. It is beached underwater, located south of the Calvert Mansion and near a pair of sunken vessels just west of the lighthouse. Enter the sub through a hatch on the conning tower. Use the terminal in the bow to activate the self-destruct, and flip the failsafe switch in the stern. The player will then have about 10 seconds to escape after leaving the sub, but until they do leave, nothing will happen.

Head back to the motel, and receive new orders from the safehouse terminal. The next objective is to meet a Chinese intelligence officer at his bunker, located beside Calvert Mansion, underneath the atrium. The terminal directs the player to a pair of cryptochromatic spectacles hidden within the toilet tank in the motel.

Travel to the Calvert Mansion and enter the remnants of an aviary to the west. Equip the cryptographic spectacles now. The number of rings on each vase represents its number. Activate the vases using the cryptochromatic sequence. The sequence is: 1, 3, 2, 3, 4, 4, 2. A hatch will appear on the floor next to the #2 vase. If entered correctly an audible "5-ping" noise instead of the normal "click" can be heard. Open the hatch and there the Chinese Intelligence bunker

Inside the bunker is a large number of weapons and ammunition and a workbench. The Lone Wanderer will be approached by a protectron who asks them to leave the hazardous area. Choose to give the robot the pass phrase or tell the "tin man" to get out of the way. There are no benefits or drawbacks to either option save personal preference on where the robot should stand once the quest is complete (assuming it isn't destroyed).If it is chosen to give it the pass phrase, it will escort the Lone Wanderer to a room downstairs for the extraction orders and stand next to that door. Otherwise, simply go downstairs. If left alive without using the pass phrase, the robot will continually guard the door nearest its recharge station and occasionally approach the Lone Wanderer with the option to give it the pass phrase again or use the "tin man" option.

Enter the room, and pick up the Backwater Rifle on the shelf next to the door, then activate the terminal. The terminal tells the Lone Wanderer the funds for completing the mission have been wired to their next of kin and advises them to take their death honorably. The terminal will then seal the chamber, and fill it with radiation. There are two methods of escape, and one option to buy some time.
 * Scale the nearby lockers and crates to a run-off tunnel visible on the local map.
 * Science (71) - Interact with a fuse box beside the door. It's hidden, poorly, behind some boards leaning against the wall.
 * Repair (30) - Shut off the radiation by closing the floor vent, giving the Lone Wanderer time to think or use the room for storage if they decide to live in the bunker.

Entering the run-off tunnel or escaping through the door will complete the quest.

Reward

 * 350 XP
 * Backwater Rifle
 * Cryptochromatic spectacles

Behind the scenes

 * The contact tape concludes with the line "Zhù ni háoyùn," which translates to "good luck."
 * The terminal screen in the SSN-37-1A reads "Shì shàng wú nán shì, zhi pà you xin rén" (DLC04FF05SubTerminal [0100C5E5]) which translates to "where there is a will, there is a way."
 * Agent Wan Yang's code name is "Five Claw Dragon." The five claw dragon symbol appeared on the Chinese Imperial Seal.
 * The title of the quest, "The Velvet Curtain," may be a reference to the "Iron Curtain" or the "Bamboo Curtain."

Bugs

 * The player may not be able to activate the self destruct even if they have the codes in their inventory. It is important for the player to remember that they must enable the self-destruct sequence ON THE TERMINAL before enabling it on the little switch above the goo pile.
 * If the player selects the first terminal option (the one regarding the mission assignment being in a locker) after destroying the submarine, the quest marker for the locker will return despite the player having already having visited the locker. The locker will be empty this time, preventing further progression in the quest.
 * The door leading to the final terminal cannot be opened, pressing the electric switch results in nothing. To fix this, activate the switch using the console.
 * Upon entering room 1D, the player may not be able to leave it. The game freezes at the loading screen. To fix this, load an earlier save from outside the room, and then re-enter the room.
 * Attempting to leave the bank may result in the loading screen playing an infinite loop.
 * When getting the password tape, the quest objectives may still mark for the player to get the password from the lockers. To fix this, first play the "Contact Tape" while still being at the Homestead Motel and then once it has finished playing, get the password.
 * If the player is in the Capital Wasteland and they reactivate the quest it will show the quest marker in the Capital Wasteland and not in Point Lookout.
 * Once the quest is complete, going back to the bunker and trying to re-wire the circuit breaker while the door is open results in an instant game freeze. (Fixed in a later patch.)