Little Lamplight

Little Lamplight is a Capital Wasteland settlement in Fallout 3 run entirely by children under the age of 16/18.

History

 * See also: Journal of Carrie Delaney, My Diary, by Jason Grant and January 26, 2077 -- Little Lamplight!

On October 23rd, 2077, 82 students from the Early Dawn school went on a field trip to Lamplight Caverns with a couple of teachers (including the fourth grade teacher, Carrie Delaney) and a few parent chaperones. There the group spent many hours touring the deep caverns. Just as they were packing up to leave, the caverns began to shake. The kids began to scream as the lights went out, and one man from the group went out to see what was going on. Upon his return he informed those within that the entire Washington D.C. area was covered in mushroom clouds.

The adults slowly died off, some from leaving the cavern, others from accidents within. Eventually Miss Delaney, last of the adult survivors, decided to go on a scavenger run and never returned, leaving the kids to fend for themselves. One of the older kids, Jason Grant, assumed power after no others would step forward. Within the next month of exploring the caves the children came upon Vault 87, where they would pound on the door for hours pleading for assistance.

Finally, when one of the adults inside Vault 87 told the children to go away (saying that they were "already dead")(This might be because, near the door resides Peter Stevens, who was going 'crazy' after losing his son, Jason. This may be Peter calling the children "already dead" due to his son.), the kids turned against all Mungos kicking out residents once they turned 18.

Inhabitants
Little Lamplight consists of a group of shacks set up inside the cave, lit by a system of lamps. The city is inhabited only by children, who live on the cultivation and trade of radiation-absorbing fungus that grows in the cave. Upon their 16/18th birthday, inhabitants are forced to leave Little Lamplight. Many of the inhabitants of Big Town are mungos (adults) who migrated from Little Lamplight. Several non-aggressive dogs also wander about the cave.

Gaining Entrance
To gain entrance to the settlement players must first speak with Mayor MacCready and agree to rescue two members of the town, Sammy and Squirrel, who have been kidnapped by slavers from Paradise Falls. Alternately, if the player passes a speech challenge, or the player has the Child at Heart perk, it is possible to smooth-talk MacCready to allow entrance without rescuing the children from Paradise Falls. Most residents offer special dialogue options for players possessing the Child at Heart perk, and of special note is Biwwy who will offer a Wazer Wifle for free instead of charging 500 caps.

Side Quests

 * Rescue from Paradise
 * Picking up the Trail
 * A Sticky Situation
 * Biwwy's Wazer Wifle
 * Bully the Bully
 * Fungus Deal
 * Tales of the Wastes
 * The Kid-Kidnapper
 * Zip's Nuka Fix

Escort Sticky to Big Town

 * Main article: A Sticky Situation

When first entering Little Lamplight after the gate has been opened, a young man named Sticky who has just turned 16/18 is being turned out by the other kids. If you speak to him, he will say that he is heading to Big Town. If you want, you can offer to escort him there. You can go right away or ask him to wait for you outside. Once you are done in Little Lamplight, speak to him to receive the quest. Go outside and fast travel or walk to Big Town. He will join the rest of the people there and you will receive XP and karma.

Residents of Little Lamplight

 * Biwwy - Used to be on the scav team. Has the coveted Wazer Wifle for 500 caps or 250 with enough barter ("free" with Child at Heart perk).
 * Bumble - Youngest resident and potential slave.
 * Eclair - Runs the "restaurant" called Spelunkers. Will trade Cave Fungus for Strange Meat.
 * Joseph - Oldest resident and teacher to Little Lamplight.
 * Knick Knack - Knock Knock's twin brother and miscellaneous item seller.
 * Knock Knock - Knick Knack's twin sister and "morale" officer.
 * Lucy - The town's doctor. Will trade Cave Fungus for Buffout.
 * Mayor MacCready - Foul-mouthed leader of Little Lamplight.
 * Princess - Bad-tempered guard for the back gate.
 * Sticky - The birthday boy who has to leave Little Lamplight. The Lone Wanderer can escort him to Big Town
 * Zip - Hyperactive Nuka Cola addict.
 * At least 6 Dogs - Ginger, Rex, Muttface, Bandit, Hooligan, and Pete - Seen so far. (A theory: It has been reported that if you bring Dogmeat with you, these dogs sometimes become hostile only to Dogmeat; dogs needing to assert their hierarchy, territorial and all that, plus only 1 apparent female lamplight dog to fight over. Hmm...)


 * Slaves that can be rescued from Paradise Falls
 * Penny - Joseph's little sister.
 * Sammy - Another enslaved child.
 * Squirrel - Yet another enslaved child.

Notable loot

 * Around Little Lamplight, in some of the shacks can be found Holodisks (three in the scavenger store and three in the schoolhouse). A few reveal the history of the town, while one is the holodisk sent to doctors received from The Replicated Man quest. Another speaks of the disk sent by the Android.
 * Journal of Carrie Delaney, Entry 1 and Journal of Carrie Delaney, Entry 2 are found stacked on the counter in the center room of the administration office.
 * Wanted: Trustworthy Surgeon is found on the surgical table opposite that.
 * A request for help is given by Knick Knack after listening to the above and starting the The Replicated Man quest.
 * A duplicate holotape of A request for help can be found on the front counter of Knick Knack's souvenir shop.
 * My Diary, by Jason Grant -- Entry 1 and My Diary, by Jason Grant -- Entry 2 are found on the metal shelves past the counter in Knick Knack's souvenier shop.
 * January 26, 2077 -- Little Lamplight! can be found on a pool table in the upper area of the Great Chamber, along with an Intact Garden Gnome.
 * Party Hat is obtainable by talking to Sticky when you first arrive and then asking him why he is wearing it. He will then say he doesn't need it and give it to you. (Note: You do not need to escort him to Big Town to get the hat.)
 * Most (except from Mayor MacCready) of the little lamplighters clothing is obtainable by reverse pick pocketing you can obtain head wear via reverse pick pocket (tested, 360 with zip) by giving them head wear with a damage rating of 3 or higher.eg combat helmets. anything as strong as raider armor and above. (Power Armor is extremely funny to put on them, though is hard to get back so is not recommended.
 * Bottlecap Mine schematics located in Knick Knack storage if you already have 3 it will go into misc with a weight of 0 and a worth of 300 caps.

Trivia
NOTE: This requires the Child At Heart perk.
 * There is no in-game explanation of how the child population has continued to re-populate after its inception in 2077, except insofar as the Bryan Wilks situation may constitute an explanation -- that their population comes from taking in orphans. Another explanation offered is that the adults of Big Town send their children there, as they know it is much safer.
 * You can play an ersatz game of Tag with some of the un-named Little Lamplighters. When you talk to them they'll say "try to catch me, new kid" and run off. When you catch them and select/talk to them again, they'll say things like "that didn't count" or "man, now I'm it."
 * Residents and former residents of Little Lamplight still share some terms for several ordeals, such as grown ups being called mungos and Super Mutants being called muties by both people from Little Lamplight and Big Town, possibly since the former residents of Little Lamplight still have traits from spending most of their lives communicating and socializing with children.
 * The inspiration for Little Lamplight may have come from Vault 29, which was due to star in Van Buren. They share similar qualities, such as sending the residents out to the wasteland once they mature and having no adults.
 * According to a recent interview in 1UP Emil Pagliarulo revealed that Little Lamplight location was loosely based on Luray Caverns in Virginia.
 * The Little Lamplight settlement may be an homage to the children's colony that Max encounters in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.
 * There is a bus outside the Caverns which may have been the bus that brought the children there.
 * The Little Lamplight settlement may also be a reference to an episode of Star Trek (Miri) where the Enterprise discovers a planet and the survivors are kids that hate adults and refer to them as "Grups".
 * It is most likely named after the song "Lamplighter's Serenade" by Bing Crosby.
 * Little Lamplight and the others listed above were no doubt inspired by the 1954 novel Lord of the Flies. In the novel, children stranded on a tropical island after a plane crash develop a semblance of civilization and a tribal-like society. Like Little Lamplight, the children in Lord of the Flies elect a "chief" and power struggles ensue.

Bugs

 * The door of the Souvenir Shop is sometimes locked (difficulty Easy) with the shop Merchant, Knick Knack, stuck inside. None of the kids appears to have the key nor be able to open the door so you'll have to pick it yourself, which will make you lose some Karma and may cause hostility. Hence, you should try to be prudent and stealthy.
 * You can enter Vault 87 and start Finding the Garden of Eden virtually the minute you enter Little Lamplight, before all other quests.
 * Sometimes, if you rescued Sammy and Squirrel before visiting Little Lamplight, they never arrive and you must smooth-talk MacCready to enter.
 * In the PC and 360 version, it is possible that all dialog options are exhausted with the Mayor and you still cannot get access to Vault 87 when the story requires you to go there. (fixed by saving then reloading)
 * In the 360 version and possibly for others, if you gain entry to Little Lamplight before speaking to Scribe Rothchild at the Citadel, you lose the ability to have the conversation with Rothchild that unveils the Vault 87 map marker and others. Speaking with Rothchild afterwards only allows you to ask how to get to vault 87 again, to which he will direct you to the map, but the map markers are not highlighted when you look at it.
 * In the PC and Xbox 360 version, jumping onto the Toilet in The Great Chamber will get you stuck. You can move away by disabling colliding through console or loading a past save.
 * In the Great Chamber there is a little lamplighter that will walk in the water and go under the surface, and get stuck there forever.
 * While approaching the Little Lamplight entrance you may see one of the two buses in the ground go flying off into the air about fifty feet and rocketing off into the unknown. The bus is called The City Liner and is all beat up.
 * Sometimes in Spelunkers (The food court) NPC's will randomly fall in the water. Mayor MacCready has a weird effect in this. He seems to sink to the bottom and walk around, however he cannot be talked to during this. And Zip seems to have a seizure (ironically) during his swim. This can also be done intentionally.
 * If you jump into the main gate (the part that opens) from the inside you will sometimes stand on an invisible platform.
 * When you enter the great chamber, the game will think you are underwater and "swim up," you can eventually reach the surface and get air even though it doesn't show water. You can fix this if you reload from a save before your  autosave from entering. (Confirmed on Xbox 360)
 * Sometimes eclair and Zip will dissapear without warning, but seeing as they are uniquely clothed NPC's, this may be intentional.

Appearances
 only appears in Fallout 3.