Camp Venture

Camp Venture, known before the war as the Endurance and Survival Training of the Virginias - Appalachia Regional Facility (shortened to Virginias Endurance and Survival Training or V.E.S.T.), is a location in the Mire region of Appalachia.

Background
Camp Venture was known before the Great War for its extreme survival training. Known as V.E.S.T. (Virginias Endurance and Survival Training), it was run 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. However, Hayes later mothballed the facility and retreated to his bunker shortly before the Great War.

After the bombs dropped, 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 2077-78. 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. In fact, it was here that the Appalachian Brotherhood of Steel was eventually born.

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 could not take the strain - as was the case with one K. Kelly, who took her own life 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, all the bunkhouses 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 bunkhouses had their own names: Bunkhouse Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Phoenix and likely more.

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 are a chemistry station and power armor depot with a random power armor spawn. Opposite of the eastern wall exterior is an armor workbench flanking the two power armor stations. 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 potential Vault-Tec bobblehead spawns and a potential 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 cargo bots to location and a live-fire range to the northeast, which has an additional weapons workbench and a tinker's workbench.

Notable loot

 * Holotapes and notes
 * About the Brotherhood - Holotape, on the center table in the command center.
 * Anonymous diary page - Note, in the barracks, between lockers.
 * Belmonte incident - Note, on the center table in the command center.
 * Command center password - Note, next to a radio in the locked secure storage basement during Defiance Has Fallen.
 * Formation of the Brotherhood of Steel - Holotape, in the mess hall, on a table.
 * Goodbye Alpha - Note, on a wooden crate in Bunkhouse Alpha.
 * Henry's letter - Note, in a locker along the northern wall of the main barracks.
 * Letter to Tommy - Note, in the command center, found during Defiance Has Fallen.
 * Message to Marge 1 - Holotape, on the floor in the western barracks, at the southwestern corner.
 * Message to Marge 2 - Holotape, on the floor in the western barracks, at the southwestern corner.
 * Overseer's log - Camp Venture - Holotape, inside the overseer's cache in the command center.
 * Preservation of technology - Holotape, on top of a kitchen oven, in the mess hall.
 * Shelley's letter - Note, on the counter of the building at the weapons training range.
 * Store room report - Note, inside the secure storage basement, near where technical data is submitted for the Forbidden Knowledge repeatable quest.
 * Survival planning checklist - Two notes, one in Bunkhouse Alpha and the other in a medical cabin on a gurney.
 * Maxson's eulogy for De Silva - Note, inside the locked weapon room of the northeastern cabin, on the center table.
 * Secure storage policy - Note, pinned on the wall next to the entrance of the secure storage room (cannot be taken). Obtainable during Defiance has Fallen.


 * Other loot
 * Secure storage key - In a locked (Picklock 0) locker in the barracks.
 * Five fusion cores - Chance to spawn on the wall cabinet inside the level 3 locked armory.
 * Three potential Vault-Tec bobbleheads:
 * In the weapons storage building, on the ground next to the weapons workbench.
 * On top of the northeastern cabin's roof, between two small chimneys.
 * In front of the command center cabin, on top of a pair of green barrels.
 * Three potential magazines:
 * In the middle of the command center, inside the top row of a metal cart, near the central steel support beam and by the "star" trunk and the overseer's cache.
 * In the weapons storage room, below the shelf trolley, jutting out from the southwest wall (under the green metalwork cabinet), left of the weapons workbench inside the locked security gate area.
 * Inside the northeastern cabin, in a room behind a security gate, underneath the left surgical cart, on the right.
 * Power armor chassis with T-series armor pieces - In the depot, outside the barracks.
 * Mini nuke - Inside the secure storage basement, on top of a wall-mounted cabinet facing the southeast wall.
 * Stealth Boy - Inside the secure storage basement, on top of a wall-mounted cabinet, near the entrance of the secure storage room.
 * Five potential plans:
 * Inside a bottom cabinet shelf in the basement, next to the secure storage room. (Weapon mod plan)
 * Inside the northeastern cabin with a 'Restricted Area' sign at the entrance, in a room behind a security gate, on a table next to a weapons workbench. (Armor mod plan)
 * Inside the northeastern cabin, in a room behind a security gate, on the bottom row of a surgical cart on the left. (Weapon mod plan)
 * Inside the mess hall, on a metal shelf, at the bottom row on the left. (Armor plan)
 * Inside the command center, on a metal shelf, on the middle row. (Armor mod plan)
 * Two potential power armor mods:
 * Inside the locked secure storage basement, on the top left grocery shelf.
 * On a large green supply container in the middle of the power armor depot.
 * Two potential armor mods:
 * Underneath a cabinet in the locked secure storage basement, on the lower row of the cabinet near the red chute for depositing technical data, to the left.
 * Inside the northeastern cabin with a 'Restricted' sign at the entrance, in a room behind a security gate, on a shelf to the left of an ammo box.
 * Six potential weapon mods:
 * Underneath a cabinet in the locked secure storage basement, on the lower row of the cabinet near the red chute for depositing technical data, to the right.
 * Inside the locked secure storage basement, on the top left grocery shelf.
 * Two can be found under the main counter of the building at the weapons training range, in the far left shelf.
 * Inside the northeastern cabin, in a room behind a security gate, on the bottom row of a surgical cart on the left.
 * Inside the weapons storage room, to the left of a weapons workbench, on a table.

Appearances
Camp Venture appears only in Fallout 76.