Oasis

The Oasis is a location Northwest of Clifftop Shacks in the Capital Wasteland, that is unusually full of trees and other green plants.

Location
Oasis is situated almost at the top center of the map. It is surrounded by steep cliffs, and can only be entered through a small gorge by traveling west to east. This gorge can be hard to find but is characterized by the following landmarks:
 * One square directly NW of the Clifftop Shacks.
 * The entrance to the gorge is directly north of Broadcast Tower LP8, west and slightly north of the Oasis Marker placed on the map by the Drifter's or Wastelander's notes.
 * It is 9 squares to the east, in the northernmost row of squares on the World Map.
 * There are several green shrubs on the ground and these are followed by small plants as you walk up the tiny gorge.
 * There is a broken elevated railway/monorail line to the west.
 * A random encounter can appear here.

How to find the gorge: Near the center of the north edge of the map, there is a road running parallel to a railway line. Follow the railway/road until you find two abandoned railway cars. At the northern most railroad car, stand on the eastern side of the car and face west. The letters "CMR" are visible on the side of the car. Behind the player will be a pile of highway debris. Turn around and proceed east over the pile of debris. There will be a bridge over a gorge. Crossing the bridge and following the path in a generally easterly direction will lead directly to Oasis.

This link has four pictures - position yourself where the pip boy shows you and you will see the bottom left picture - go straight ahead following the path and you will find it in around 10 seconds of walking.

If the player has progressed far enough in the main quest, he or she may encounter an Enclave outpost under the bridge. dropping grenades into the gorge will root out the targets, or cause them to run out of the gorge towards the player where they can be picked off one by one.

It is possible to get the coordinates of the Oasis by killing the Drifter at Dickerson Tabernacle Chapel. There are also a pair (or more) of wandering Wastelanders found in a random encounter who will disclose the location, before attempting to kill the player, as well as a dying Wasteland Merchant.

History
Harold, a special product of the Forced Evolutionary Virus, with a tree on his head which he called Bob (Sometimes calls it Herbert because, "Bob hates it"), eventually found himself overwhelmed by it and became rooted to the ground during his travels in the Capital Wasteland region. Here he was discovered by several people who began to worship him as a god, and a small and exclusive cult known as the Treeminders began to form in secrecy. Bob began to blossom (which Harold apparently finds embarrassing) and many plants grew in this area, which became green with life, a stark contrast to the outer wasteland.

When the Lone Wanderer arrived he/she was urged to talk to Harold. Harold revealed his true identity and begged for mercy; after being stuck in the same position for decades he was eager for death. The other dwellers of Oasis had ignored Harold's wishes thus far, and asked the Lone Wanderer to instead either suppress or expand Harold/Bob's fertility.

Characters

 * Harold
 * Tree Father Birch
 * Leaf Mother Laurel
 * Bloomseer Poplar
 * Branchtender Cypress
 * Branchtender Linden
 * Branchtender Maple
 * Sapling Yew

Appearances
The Oasis appears only in Fallout 3. However, the character Harold is in all 3 games.

Quest
As soon as you are at Oasis, the leader will approach you. Following him, you'll go into a ceremony. After this ceremony, you are allowed to speak with Harold. When you speak with him, he will ask for you to kill him. if you talk with him enough your quest will be updated with a new option. The new option will be to burn Harold down, if you do you will gain bad karma. This is an easy way to complete the quest quickly if you wanted to save, burn Harold to complete the quest, and then reload your last save if you want to save this quest for later on.
 * Oasis (quest)

Oasis Caverns

 * Ever wanted to dress up like a branchtender but you don't want to kill one to get their clothes? Then be sure you don't miss the dead branchtender about 50 feet inside the Oasis Caverns main doors (he's right by the lantern). Now you can sport a Oasis Villager Robe just like Branchtender Linden and his ilk.

Sunken Chambers

 * Silenced 10mm Pistol, Pre-War Book, D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine (in a box on the ground, under a Baseball Glove), Stealth Boy (Right next to the Silenced 10mm Pistol on the table) immediately to the left (west) after the door
 * In the same room as mentioned above, there are two Crutch found on the bed.
 * Mini Nuke, Mentats, and two Stimpaks on the bottom of a pond in the north
 * There is also a Motorcycle Gas Tank, Motorcycle Handbrake (useful for making the Shishkebab) and 2 Steam Gauge Assemblys next to a large tire by the north pond
 * 2 Ammo Boxes, Chinese Assault Rifle and a Stealth Boy next to a skeleton, northeastern chamber
 * a Missile, 2 Blood Pack and a Stimpack at a skeleton in a cavern in the northeast corner of the same chamber (In my 360 game this was a Missile, a Blood Pack, a Stimpack, a Rad Away, and a Purified Water confirmed.) Confirmed on Ps3 version also, but with only 1 bloodpack.
 * straight ahead after entering there is a lawnmower (which contains a Lawnmower Blade)

Damp Cave
To the right on the ledge as soon as you enter


 * a Missile, Leaf Blower and a Paint Gun

On land to the right after you jump down the ledge, next to Ammo box


 * 1 Sniper Rifle
 * 1 Stimpak
 * 1 Combat Knife
 * 1 Blood pack/Rad Away
 * 2 Fission Battery
 * 1 Med-X

On land, continuing around right side of cave:


 * 1 Nuka-Cola Quantum
 * 2 Nuka-Cola
 * 1 10mm Pistol
 * 1 10mm Round
 * 1 Buffout
 * 1 Stimpak
 * 1 Conductor
 * 1 Lunchbox

Nearby Factions

 * Outcasts can be spotted patrolling fairly close to the Oasis. It is unclear why the Outcasts would be traveling in this area since the Treeminders forsake technology. A possible reason is that they may be a search party out to look for Branchtender Linden (a former Outcast member) and the rest of his squad, if only to recover their weapons and armor in accordance with their desire to retain their technology- the general northern region of the Capital Wasteland is also home to several satellite arrays, a vault, and a military base.

Trivia

 * Harold's inconsistent naming of his tree is inherited from Fallout 2 where he jokingly refers to the tree as both Herbert and Bob.


 * There is a place called Green Valley near Washington which is fairly close to the spot of Oasis.


 * The Mad Preacher in Seward Square talks about trees to the north, a likely reference to Oasis. Interestingly, he states that the trees are in fact deadly; maybe because he is totally out of his mind and seeing Harold made his fragile mind snap like a twig. After all, if you tell Harold that if people thought you were a god you would exploit it he agrees with you and says he manipulated the tree minders for his own entertainment for a time. One could see how talking to a malicious tree could drive an already fragile psyche over the edge.


 * Be careful when going to Oasis, Deathclaws can be spotted close to the entrance, possibly because Oasis is close to Old Olney. Branchtender Linden reveals that he was jumped and heavily mauled by Deathclaws near Oasis, eventually being nursed back to health by the Treeminders who found him. Yao Guais, Raiders and even Enclave troops have been spotted as well, reports have said that Enclave will raid Oasis, I've been there and Enclave were everywhere, with the residents, and even Harold, dead. To prevent the Enclave from killing everyone, that is if you care, reverse pickpocket weapons and armor to the residents. You can also claim the Oasis attire through this method.


 * The residents may sometimes randomly attack you upon entering the town. This may be due to a low Karma score.


 * You can get inside Oasis without using the gates, try getting on the cliffs on the western side, jump on top, this may take a while, but you will land in Oasis.


 * All of the meat off of the Mirelurks, Mirelurk Hunters and Mirelurk Kings had 0 radiation in the Oasis Caverns. I'm not sure if this was a glitch (note the meat has regular radiation on Xbox 360) confirmed.


 * Three-dog will make a mention of a tree-filled place in the Capital Wasteland as one of his news items. This is most likely the place to which he is referring.
 * The lyrical content of the song "Colony of Birchmen" by the Progressive Metal band Mastodon parallels events in the Oasis quest to a surprising degree, particularly the lines "This forest is growing faster than I can tell / Cell structure eats away at a massive swell / Seems, however, I'm a victim of circumstance...", and "My heart's gone away...."

(note regarding 0 RADS in Mirelurk meat) It was mentioned in the Little Lamplight cavern, that there was a fungus that lessened radiation in the water. The same bright green fungi lives in Oasis Cavern, so I presumed there is some linkage.