Agatha's Song

Agatha's Song is a quest in Fallout 3. It is also an achievement/trophy.

Retrieve the Soil Stradivarius (pronounced “swal”) from Vault 92 for Agatha, an old woman living alone in her house in the Capital Wasteland.

Meeting Agatha
Agatha's house is northeast of Meresti trainyard and west of the Scrapyard, and is surrounded by piles of rock, except for the small passage from the west over a wood suspension bridge. This bridge is located just west of where the two sets of upraised monorail tracks become parallel to each other.

Agatha is an elderly violinist who broadcasts her music through her late husband's old radio gear. She wants to get back the Soil Stradivarius, which was owned by her great-great-grandmother's sister Hilda. Agatha believes the violin is still in Vault 92, where the nation's best musicians were housed. She offers the frequency of her radio signal as a reward, but with an easy Speech check or a high Charisma, she'll also immediately provide the key to her husband's ammunition box in exchange for promising to get the violin for her. Having the Lady Killer perk makes the Speech/Charisma check unnecessary. She doesn't know the location of the vault, but if asked she can provide the location of Vault-Tec headquarters on the Pip-Boy 3000. At this point, going to Vault-Tec headquarters may be entirely optional, considering that the locations of all vaults in the Capital Wasteland will become available while doing the main quest "Picking Up the Trail".

Getting to Vault-Tec headquarters (Optional)
Vault-Tec headquarters can be accessed via Vernon Square. Vault-Tec headquarters is close to one exit of the Metro Junction tunnels: Vernon Square North. From Vernon Square, head for the northernmost part to find the Vernon Square North map marker. Vault-Tec headquarters is just next to the Metro Junction exit.
 * This station can be accessed from Chevy Chase East, the same region that has the GNR Plaza.
 * Metro Junction can also be accessed from Dupont Circle.
 * Vernon Square can also be accessed from Pennsylvania Avenue.

Discover the location of Vault 92
Once inside Vault-Tec headquarters, head for the Vault-Tec mainframe. The building is divided into three sections: Guest Relations (Lobby), the Corporate Offices, and the Administration. The building is still protected by several automated units such as Protectrons, robobrains, turrets, and, depending on character level and the game difficulty setting, Sentry Bots. A good supply of pulse grenades should help here. There are also a few remaining super mutants in the lobby.

The mainframe is located in the Administration section. Gaining access to it requires permission from System Operation Stations 1, 2, and 3. System Operation Station 1 is in the room at the top of the stairs that lead to the lower level in the Administration room. System Operation Station 2 is in the last room on the left after coming up the stairs from The Guest Relations to Administration. System Operation Station 3 is in a lower level room (near the door from Administration to Corporate Offices) on a desk next to another terminal. Alternately, most everything in Administration can be skipped by passing by the System Operation Station 3 into the lower floor of the mainframe room. In the southwest corner of the room, the pipes are laid out so that it is possible to jump onto them, then onto one of the server towers (the one with the red lights) under the path to the mainframe. Next, one can simply edge forward while standing on top of one of the server towers until touching the mainframe itself. At this point, it is possible to download the vault locations. Gaining access to the mainframe enables downloading the location of Vault 87, Vault 92, Vault 101, Vault 106, and Vault 108 onto the Pip-Boy.

If the quest 'Picking Up the Trail' is already active, then the locations of all Vaults will be marked on the Pip-Boy map by Scribe Rothchild in the Citadel laboratory, during the start of the quest.

If Vault 92 is already discovered without having gone to Vault-Tec headquarters before accepting the quest, then when the quest begins the optional objective of finding Vault-Tec headquarters will already be marked as accomplished, and the first objective will be to recover the violin from Vault 92.

Recover the Soil Stradivarius from Vault 92
Vault 92 is infested with mirelurks, mirelurk hunters, mirelurk kings, bloatflies, and radroaches. The Soil Stradivarius is located within the most southwestern room in the Sound Testing section of the Vault on a table.

Entering the Vault, go straight, the room should have 3 doors. The door in front leads to the Atrium, the door on the left has signs that say Classroom and Lab and leads directly to the Sound Testing section. The door on the right is unmarked and leads to the Living Quarters containing sheet music, which can be given to Agatha later for another reward.

Moving through the vault can be done in at least two ways:
 * With the ability to pick Average locks, one can go left, directly to the violin, and either ignore the sheet music book or get it after the violin. To choose this path, enter the door straight ahead, which shortly leads to the Sound Testing area. Once there, several mirelurks will pose resistance. An easier difficulty setting results in 2 regular mirelurks and 2 mirelurk hunters. At a harder level, it will be 4 mirelurk hunters. After dealing with the mirelurks, take the corridor on the right. At the intersection, go right around a corner. On the left will be a staircase leading down with a sign saying Lab above it. There will be 2 mirelurk kings or mirelurk hunters (depending upon character level).
 * Lacking the ability to pick Average locks requires going right, through the Living Quarters, to get the violin. Along the way, the sheet music book can be found in the Male Dorm bathroom by taking the first door on the right, then going through the open door, then taking another right, and finally looking in a closed stall behind the toilet. The Woman's Dorm Security terminal can be used to perform a noise flush and kill all the mirelurks in that area. After optionally finding the sheet music book, continue through the Living Quarters until reaching the upper floor of the Atrium. There should be a door to the Reactor section, which has a mirelurk hunter, and an unmarked door that leads to the Sound Testing section. Go through the unmarked door. Once there, immediately to the right should be a staircase with the sign Lab above it leading down. There will be 2 mirelurk kings or mirelurk hunters (depending upon character level).

At the bottom of the staircase and around a corner is a 4-way intersection. Directly ahead is an average-locked storeroom with a Stealth Boy, ammunition boxes, medical supplies, and an average-locked safe. To the right is a room with the first mirelurk king (or mirelurk hunter), a jukebox, a soda machine, a refrigerator, and a pre-War book. To the left is a T-intersection. The computer terminal that grants access to the music studio (and the second mirelurk king or mirelurk hunter) is to the left of the T-intersection. It also contains a Nikola Tesla and You. The violin is to the right of the T-intersection, with a laser pistol and an Easy-locked safe with another Stealth Boy.

Return to Agatha
Upon completion of this quest, Agatha will provide the frequency to her radio channel for the Pip-Boy. It plays violin music and can be heard across the entire Capital Wasteland.

Bringing Agatha back a sheet music book, which can be found in Vault 92 and several other locations (see: sheet music book), leads her to turn over the Blackhawk (a unique .44 scoped Magnum) and 12 .44 Magnum rounds that were previously owned by her husband who passed away. Getting the Blackhawk requires asking for the reward (second option). Being rude towards Agatha causes the Blackhawk's condition to be somewhat facetiously halved. Lacking a sheet music book when talking with Agatha again leads her to mention that she needs music paper to write her music on; she will then make the request to retrieve some for her.

Alternatives

 * The Soil Stradivarius can be given to Ahzrukhal at The Ninth Circle in Underworld. Telling him it's one of a kind convinces him to buy it for 200 caps (300 with a Speech check) and yields the achievement for finishing the quest. There is no Karma gain nor loss by selling it to Ahzrukhal. (If this quest is still inactive when Ahzrukhal receives the violin, the game will think that the quest is complete, resulting in the awarding of the achievement and in-game recognition of quest completion.)
 * It is also possible to sell the violin for 200 caps (300 with speech check) to Abraham Washington in Rivet City. This ends the quest (even if it has not been accepted) and yields good Karma. Mentioning this to Agatha will make it possible to return to Rivet City and buy the violin back, at which point it can be given to Agatha or kept (otherwise it cannot be dropped until the quest is complete).

Bugs

 * After talking to Agatha and receiving the quest, but before visiting either Vault-Tec headquarters or Vault 92, the quest sometimes skips ahead, giving you credit for discovering the location of Vault-Tec headquarters. This does not seem to affect the quest in any other way.
 * When awaking Agatha to complete the quest, her head briefly turns upside down. When this happens just tap the talk button again to wake her up.
 * If you find alternate means of gaining the information contained in the mainframe, or complete the quest without it, then visit Vault-Tec HQ, the security door (locked) to the mainframe itself will remain locked with no way to open it, even if you gain access to it using all 3 administration terminals located in the building.
 * After passing the second speech check, Agatha will "give" you her ammunition box key, but the box will still be locked and the key won't be on your keyring. You can still open the box, but it has a Karma penalty and is considered stealing.
 * If you manage to destroy the masterbrain bot without shutting him down and choose to sever the satellite connection, all robots in the area will become docile and will not fight back no matter what you do. Also any robots you have killed will be brought back to life with one bar of health. So it's a good chance to get some free experience without getting into a fight.