Little Lamplight

Little Lamplight is a pre-War underground cavern tourist attraction made into a settlement in the Capital Wasteland in 2277, run and populated entirely by children under the age of 16.

Background
Discovered in the late 19th century, Lamplight Caverns was converted into a tourist attraction during the 1920s. Due to the location's strong government ties, Vault-Tec achieved ownership of several portions of the caves, for the purpose of Vault 87's construction.

On October 23, 2077, 82 students from Early Dawn Elementary 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 or left, some leaving the cavern, others being injured by accidents inside. Eventually, Carrie Delaney, being the last of the adult survivors, decided to go scavenging and never returned--leaving the kids to fend for themselves. One of the older kids, Jason Grant, assumed the position of mayor after no one else would step forward. Within the next month of exploring the caves, the children came upon Vault 87, where they pounded on the door for hours, pleading for assistance.

Finally, one of the adults inside Vault 87 told the children to go away (saying that they were "already dead"). This was likely Peter Stevens, a vault technician stationed near the door to Little Lamplight, who thought that the children were hallucinations of his dead son. As a result, the kids turned against all "mungos," kicking out residents once they turned 16. Most, if not of all, of these adults then head to the settlement of Big Town, after being told that a "good life" awaits them there.

Out of the remaining kids, Joseph teaches the kids classes. According to him, a few scavengers brought back holotapes for basic schooling, such as reading, basic math and encyclopedias from vaults.

As of 2287, the settlement's fate is unknown, although MacCready is alive for the events of Fallout 4, meaning he would've been forced to leave by 2281 when he turned sixteen. Considering the age of MacCready at the time the Sole Survivor meets him most, if not all, of the children who had appeared in Fallout 3 's Little Lamplight would have likely been kicked out.

Lamplight caverns
A small cave descends to the town's entrance area, which is protected by a fence with a large front gate. Beyond the fence, a small area with the Little Lamplight office building, the town's medical office and school, opens into two small corridors. The first corridor leads to the restaurant Spelunkers, situated in a cave with pools of water, and the Great Chamber beyond. The second tunnel leads to a medium sized cave which contains the Lamplight restrooms, and the souvenir shop, the town's store. Another access to the Great Chamber can be found here, as well as a small path to the town's back gate, leading to Murder Pass.

The Great Chamber
The Great Chamber area is a huge cavern, with wooden walkways connecting various suspended rooms. It serves as the main living area for the Little Lamplighters, containing a number of beds. The floor of the cave is partially filled with rubble and slightly-irradiated water. Besides the two exits leading to Lamplight caverns, there are two cavities in the chamber's wall; one contains a workbench, and the other leads to Vault 87's Reactor Chamber.

Notable loot

 * Schematics - bottlecap mines, sold by Knick Knack in the souvenir shop.
 * Wazer Wifle, carried by Biwwy.
 * Bottlecap mine in the Great Chamber, in a niche in the northwest side of the cave (see map).
 * Five holotapes, two My diary, by Jason Grant in the souvenir shop, January 26, 2077 -- Little Lamplight! over the pool table in the Great Chamber and two Journal of Carrie Delaney in office building.
 * Blast Off pajamas - Worn by Bumble.
 * Kid's cave rat outfit and Murray the mole hat - Both worn by Zip.

Appearances
Little Lamplight appears only in Fallout 3 and is mentioned in Fallout 4.

Behind the scenes
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 * In an interview with 1UP.com, Emil Pagliarulo stated that Little Lamplight's location was loosely based on Luray Caverns in Virginia.
 * Nathan Purkeypile, who designed much of Little Lamplight's layout, lighting and cluttering, stated on Twitter in October 2019 that the inspiration for the settlement's circular light sources came from glass floats, which were once used by fishermen to keep nets and other items afloat.
 * The inspiration for Little Lamplight may have also come from Vault 29, which was due to appear in Van Buren. They share similar qualities, such as sending the residents out to the wasteland once they mature and having no adults.
 * The Little Lamplight settlement may be an homage to the children's colony that Max encounters in the movie Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.

Bugs

 * Princess and the other child guarding Murder Pass may spawn on the other side of the gate. This most commonly happens when using the "Wait" option in front of the door.
 * There is a possible glitch where the door to Murder Pass will not open under any circumstance.
 * Upon first entering the caverns to Little Lamplight, the gate is pulled up and the children are fleeing. Going into Little Lamplight reveals super mutants are attacking, after dispatching the super mutants, Mayor MacCready will talk to the player, with the only option available being the Speech check asking to be admitted. MacCready no longer mentions Paradise Falls or gives such a quest option.