Vault 87

Vault 87 is one of the Vault-Tec Vaults, located at the western edge of the Capital Wasteland. As part of the Vault Experiment, experimentation with the use of Forced Evolutionary Virus (FEV) was conducted on its inhabitants. As a result, Vault 87 is full of super mutants and centaurs. It is their "breeding ground" and only known place of origin on the East Coast.

Background
In 2077, the original inhabitants of Vault 87 were taken to airtight chambers and exposed to a concentrated form of FEV. The Overseer and his security guards were not aware of what it was, but were simply following orders from Vault-Tec. When the first vault dwellers were turned into super mutants, they forcibly mutated the others, until the whole population was either mutated or dead.

The Vault 87 super mutants are obsessed with the preservation of their brand new species. Since they are all sterile, they kidnap humans from all over the Capital Wasteland and bring them to the vault to be mutated. They have been doing so for nearly 200 years, until their source of FEV started to run out. Because of the shortage of the "green stuff", there are now super mutant bands searching all over the Capital Wasteland for a new source of the virus.

The Vault entrance
Above ground, the radiation near the entrance to Vault 87 peaks at well over 3,000 rads/second, which is fatal in a third of a second. According to information obtained from the Garden of Eden Creation Kit (G.E.C.K.), the Overseer's terminal states, "I'm quite sad to report that due to a direct hit from what I presume to be a nuclear weapon on the entry area of Vault 87, we will be unable to provide the Scouting Reports as outlined in Vault-Tec's Operations Manual. The main door to Vault 87 is damaged beyond repair and we are detecting extremely high levels of lethal radiation outside and in the entry tunnel."

It is possible to reach the entrance through the extensive use of RadAway in combination with clothing providing radiation resistance and Rad-X. However, as the Overseer's message mentions, the door is inaccessible, making the Vault impossible to enter from above ground. The map marker will activate near the entrance. Dead scientists in radiation suits can be found near the Vault door, as can RadAway, presumably carried by the scientists but not enough to prevent their death by radiation poisoning.

Super mutants have built a barricade of broken girders and wrecked cars around the entrance. If you do decide to venture into this one-way death trap, be sure to defeat them before going in. Remember that super mutants can enter into a dense area of radiation without suffering any effects, like the possible companion Fawkes.

Strangely, you can fast travel from the vault's entrance despite the heavy radiation which normally prevents fast travel. Though, almost always, you will arrive dead.

An Enclave Eyebot is usually seen patrolling south of the entrance.

Accessing Vault 87
Before you can access Vault 87, you must complete The Waters of Life, a part of the main quest, by speaking with Scribe Rothchild in the Citadel. You will then be sent here to recover the Garden of Eden Creation kit also known as GECK.

Vault 87 can only be accessed through Little Lamplight. The player will have the option of questioning Mayor MacCready about how to access it. The mayor will suggest taking Murder Pass. However, he will also inform the player that there is a broken computer terminal in Little Lamplight that will allow direct access to the Vault via a different, safer route. If you have the ability to access this route, it is highly recommended to take it, as Murder Pass is difficult to traverse without injury and will result in significant ammunition usage.

To access the terminal, the player must speak to Joseph (as directed by MacCready). Joseph can fix the broken terminal, allowing it to be hacked, but he will only do so if the player has rescued Penny from Paradise Falls, if the player has a high enough science or speech skill, or through the Child at Heart perk. Joseph can be found in the Little Lamplight schoolhouse in the morning. The player must have a Science skill of 50 to actually hack the computer to get into the Vault.

If Penny is not rescued, or if Joseph becomes upset through dialogue, entrance through Murder Pass will be the only option to get to Vault 87. Located north of the souvenir building, Murder Pass houses several super mutants armed with heavy weaponry like missile launchers and miniguns. There are also a number of traps, so a careful approach is recommended. Mayor MacCready will open the gate for you if asked. Murder Pass is a good choice for earning experience. It also contains several medical cabinets, a decent amount of ammunition, and a Nuka-Cola Quantum.

Traveling through the Vault
Vault 87 is very similar to all the other vaults a player may visit during the game, with narrow, confusing corridors and small rooms connected by the main lobby. Once inside the dimly lit Vault, the player will encounter super mutants, centaurs, super mutant brutes, masters and super mutant mutant overlords (if Broken Steel is installed). Super mutants take pride in mutilating the corpses of humans they kill in combat, hence the many skeletons and gore bags found throughout the vault. The player can also find the remains of failed FEV subjects.

Eventually, the player will encounter a friendly super mutant named Fawkes, who was sealed in a test chamber and left there decades before. Fawkes, via the intercom, will offer his services in acquiring the G.E.C.K. in return for the player freeing him from his cell. Though the player need not free Fawkes, the super mutant (if freed) will indeed honor this bargain, and will help the player acquire the G.E.C.K. by serving as a guide, as well as attacking any future enemies encountered, and finally, retrieving the device itself from its highly irradiated resting place. Further, if the player has good karma, Fawkes can be recruited as a follower later on. It's highly recommended to free him, because after the next quest (The American Dream) when you are in Raven Rock, he is practically invincible and wields a Gatling laser.

There are two methods to free Fawkes. First, in the room at the end of the right hallway, you can set off the fire alarm in a room inhabited by two super mutant variants, which will open all five isolation rooms. However, this is not recommended, as in the process, two centaurs and a hostile non-player character character will also be freed. It is advisable that the player instead should hack the average-rated terminal located next to the fire alarm to unlock an individual chamber, of which Fawkes' cell is the fifth.

Inhabitants

 * Fawkes
 * Sid

Notable loot

 * A copy of Nikola Tesla and You can be found in a wooden box at the feet of a mannequin in the southwestern-most dead-end tunnel of the Reactor Chamber, along with 4 bottles of whiskey.(From the Murder Pass entrance, turn left and go downstairs, turn left again, then through the door at the end of the corridor.)
 * A copy of Pugilism Illustrated is on a shelf in the storage room behind an average locked door on the southwestern side of the catwalk level of the living quarters. There is also a Nuka-Cola Quantum, a laser rifle, microfusion cells, and a safe with random loot in this room.
 * A copy of U.S. Army: 30 Handy Flamethrower Recipes is found on a table, next to 2 first aid boxes, on your first left from the Murder Pass entrance, across the bridge, straight ahead to a dead end.
 * A copy of Tales of a Junktown Jerky Vendor is found on a toilet behind a wooden cover. It's located in Murder Pass straight ahead from the Lamplight Caverns entrance.

Related quests

 * Finding the Garden of Eden

Appearances
Vault 87 only appears in Fallout 3.

Bugs

 * It is possible that companions following you through the Vault (other than Fawkes) will be killed or misplaced when you are arrested by the Enclave.
 * Sometimes when a companion is lost while you're arrested, when you go back inside the Vault with another companion they will disappear, and they will be found dead in the position that your lost companion was in, just to the north of the T-junction where you were captured. This companion will be lost and after a few days you will receive a message that they have died. If you leave your follower outside, you will find them teleported to the same room but alive. This may be related to having more than one follower at a time.
 * When passing the cells containing centaurs, it is possible for the first centaur, in the cell on the left, to appear outside the cell as the player passes and being able to attack the player. Once it is killed, it's top half may appear back in the cell while it's bottom half is stretched across the ceiling of the corridor. The centaur may also pass through the wall between its cell and Fawkes' cell, resulting in Fawkes killing it.
 * If you go to the door in Little Lamplight that would normally require the broken terminal to be repaired, you may find it is already open and you can get into Vault 87 early.
 * Upon re-entering the Vault with Fawkes after completing the quest, if you select the "Kill subject" option on the terminal outside of Fawkes' old cell, upon entering the cell Fawkes will instantly die, even if he is not in the room when the fire is released. Same for PS3, but for him to die he has to enter the room where the fire is released
 * If you have Dogmeat in your team, and you go into the test labs, you'll notice he isn't with you. When you walk back into the Living Quarters, you'll find him, panting, put on his side, in front of the door. Look at him, and it will give you the option to talk to him. When you hit A, you'll end up in a search menu for Dogmeat, and you won't find anything, and if you go back into the cloning area, he'll be at the door, in the same position. This can be fixed by loading an older game save. *Note: Loading the Auto-save that it defaults to will have him up for a split-second, but he'll just fall onto his side.