Camp Venture

"To ensure our survival, Taggerdy needs true soldiers. Not mercenaries, not weekend warriors, but cold-blooded killing machines bursting at the seams with efficiency, determination and grit. That's what I intend to give her - the best of the best."

- Sgt. T. Wilson, CO of Camp Venture

Camp Venture is a location in the Mire region of Appalachia in 2102.

Background
Camp Venture was known before the war for its extreme survival training. Known as VEST (Virginias Endurance and Survival Training), ran by Edward Hayes Jr., a Free States member. The intense training course lasted four weeks, with attendees working on their cardio, strength, and learning numerous skills, including building fires, cleaning water, establishing shelter (week 1), handling firearms, field dressings, safety against poisonous flora (week 2), wilderness navigation, first aid, and signals (week 3). The final week was essentially an examination, where attendees applied the skills they learned in practice. Hayes used the facilities to train members of the Free States, including Raleigh Clay and his family, in preparation for the nuclear war. When the Free States seceded from the United States in late 2077, Hayes mothballed the facility and retreated to his bunker.

This proved to be a windfall for Taggerdy's Thunder, left to fend for themselves by the chain of command. Acting on de Silva's recommendation, Lt. Taggerdy moved her squad into the camp, where they survived the harsh winter of 2078. In close contact with Roger Maxson on the West Coast, the Venture was where the Appalachian Brotherhood of Steel was eventually born. Taggerdy ordered the Camp to full readiness, in order to fill out the ranks, putting Sgt. Ted Wilson in charge of training volunteers. Within 29 days, Wilson brought the mothballed facility back to operational status, improvising a training regimen, adapting Ranger techniques to their present situation (complicated by the lack of an airborne component, but he made do). Recruits signed up regularly, but Wilson's brutal training caused many to wash out. The first class that graduated from Camp Venture had an over 50% failure rate and one fatality due to the live-fire exercises Wilson had recruits perform. However, they were the right kind of people for the Thunder, the lieutenant, and Captain Maxson.

Other complications happened from time to time. On January 3, 2081, a recruit by the name of Fisher, just a week from graduation, deserted from the Camp taking a combat shotgun, ten boxes of shells, salvage recon, and other gear. The incident resulted in Sergeant Wilson modifying the recruiting strategy used by Lt. Taggerdy, starting a pattern of elitism and preferring military veterans in recruiting, something that would come to bite the faction back, hard, years down the road. However, the Camp's training continued and when the Brotherhood was formed around 2082, it provided a steady stream of new troops for the organization. Although some couldn't take the strain - as was the case with one K. Kelly, who took her own live on November 9, 2083, unable to live on after losing most of her family and loved ones - others excelled, as was the case with Tex Rogers, who received a commendation on March 26, 2086 from Wilson, the very first he issued since the Great War. As this came just as the situation around Huntersville was heating up, the timing was impeccable.

Although the Camp could continue for the foreseeable future, the appearance of the scorchbeasts and the scorched, coupled with Taggerdy's steep recruitment criteria meant the Camp's life expectancy was drastically reduced. Losses taken in containing the Bog's scorched threat and refusal to cooperate with other factions led to the Camp being shuttered in July 2093, with remaining personnel reassigned to Fort Defiance, Thunder Mountain Power Plant, and defense stations along the Bog's perimeter. The remaining Squires were immediately assigned combat duties, completing their training in practice, while Wilson was promoted to Fort Defiance executive officer.

By the time of the opening of Vault 76, in 2102, all the bunk houses outside the perimeter wall were falling apart and the interior was overrun by Scorched.

Layout

 * Camp Venture sits on the edge of the Mire and is divided into three distinct sections. The outer sector, surrounded by a crooked, derelict wooden wall, once served as the bunkhouses and outer edge of the VEST camp. The Brotherhood repurposed the buildings and salvaged the bunkhouses, leaving only the VEST storage and supply building intact and using it for storing their non-essential gear and as temporary storage for dangerous tech recovered from across Appalachia. The building contains a lot of loot and high level junk, though to access the locked door in the basement, one needs to head up to the main Brotherhood facility up the hill.
 * The facility cannot be missed, surrounded by prefabricated fortifications. It includes the barracks at the southern edge, complete with plenty of loot, notes, and holotapes. Just outside the eastern wall is a chemistry station and power armor depot with a random power armor spawn. The building next to the depot is the weapons storage and requires either the key (found in a locked level 0 locker in the bunkhouse) or a level 3 lockpicking skill. Apart from ammo and a minigun, it also has two bobblehead spawns and a magazine spawn, plus a weapons workbench.
 * The last building is the command center, which requires that players obtain the password. The password is located in the locked room in the basement of the storage and supply building. Inside is the steamer trunk, more lore, the Overseer's cache, and information on Fort Defiance's location.
 * Up the hill lies the landing pad, emblazoned with Taggerdy's Thunder insignia, including a console to call cargobots to location and a live fire range to the northeast, which has another weapons workbench and a tinker's workbench.

Notable loot

 * Holotapes and Notes
 * Store room report: The note is in the basement of the wooden Storage and Supplied building.
 * Survival planning checklist: While spelled the same, there are two different notes at this location. One is inside the wooden dilapidated S.E.R.E. Training building; the other is inside the wooden dilapidated Bunkhouse Alpha.
 * Goodbye Alpha: The note is on a wooden box inside Bunkhouse Alpha.
 * Shelley's letter: The note is on the counter of the shooting range building north of landing pad.
 * Anonymous diary page: The note is on a visible shelf of a locker along the northern wall of the barracks.
 * Message to Marge 1: The holotape is on the floor slightly under the western bunk bed inside the barracks, next to Message to Marge 2.
 * Message to Marge 2: The holotape is on the floor slightly under the western bunk bed inside the barracks, next to Message to Marge 1.
 * Henry's letter: The note is on a visible shelf of locker along the northern wall of the barracks.
 * Formation of the Brotherhood of Steel: The holotape is on the center table inside the barracks.
 * Preservation of technology: The holotape is on the corner kitchen counter inside the barracks.
 * Overseer's log - Camp Venture: The holotape is inside the Overseer's Cache box inside the Command Center building.
 * Belmonte incident: The note is on the center table inside the Command Center building.
 * Letter to Tommy: The note is on the center table inside the Command Center building.
 * About the Brotherhood: The holotape is on the center table inside the Command Center building.
 * Command center password: The note is inside the storage room on a table with a HAM radio.
 * Maxson's eulogy for De Silva
 * Secure storage policy: Pinned on the wall next to the entrance of the secure storage, cannot be picked.
 * Potential bobbleheads
 * Two, in the weapons storage building.
 * Potential magazines
 * One in weapons storage.
 * One in the command center.
 * Potential power armor
 * In the depot, outside the barracks.
 * Other Loot
 * Secure storage key, in a locked (Picklock 0) locked locker in the bunkhouse.
 * Command center password, next to a radio in the locked secure storage basement.
 * Camp Venture storage room key
 * Camp Venture weapons room key
 * Possibly a bundle of five fusion cores on the wall cabinet inside the level 3 locked armory.
 * Two random plans:
 * On a cabinet shelf next to the storage room.
 * In a room behind a security gate.
 * Two random mods - Under the counter of the building at the weapons training range.

Appearances
Camp Venture appears only in Fallout 76.

Gallery
Кэмп-Венчур 冒險營