Seth, the guard at the entrance, has a rope in his inventory that will be needed later. Steal or barter for it. If you talk to him he will propose for you to do a quest for him. This is to go into the Radscorpion caves and blow them all away. Before doing this, however, explore the village a bit. In the building east of the entrance, there is an adventurer, Ian. Talk to him and he will give you directions to Junktown and the Hub. The locations will appear on the world map. You can also ask him to join. See the Companions section of the Strategy Guide for character descriptions (but not now, as it's not finished yet).

Aradesh is the leader of this community. He is in the central building of the first area. Talk to him and offer to help deal with the Radscorpions. He will direct you to Razlo, the doctor. Razlo is located in the south-western building. He will ask you to get a Radscorpion tail for him so he can make an antidote. Radscorpions can be met as a random encounter or in the caves. To go to the caves talk to Seth.

After you get the tail, talk to Razlo again and give it to him. He will mix up a batch of antidote and give you a free sample. You will be rewarded with 250 xp, but only the first time. Bringing Razlo any more Radscorpion tails will obtain you more antidotes, but no more experience. Antidotes are used to cure poisoning caused by being clubbed by a Radscorpion tail. However, I have noticed that poison wears off in day or so without it. Use the antidote if you have some important appointment where walking in poisoned is frowned upon. Check our Medical section for more information.

Use one of your antidotes on the man lying in the back, Jarvis. This will cure him of his poisoning and give you 400 more xp.

There is another area of Shady Sands. This area contains a farm and some farmers. Having a high intelligence (or a general knowledge of farming techniques) will allow you to tell a farmer in the eastern portion of Shady Sands about crop rotation. This will earn you some experience. A shelf in one of the houses contains a Scouting Handbook and coil of rope. Besides that the only other thing I saw was a tiny well that barely supports the equally tiny community. Connection?

Descend into the vault through the sewer tunnel in the shack. Inside are caves similar to those outside of Vault 13. Walk through the entrance and you will notice that this Vault has the same room design as Vault 13. Keeping that in mind, check the storage locker on the west wall. Inside are a bunch of flares. Through the next doorway you should be greeted by a mole rat and a few of his fellow cave rats. Shoot, bludgeon or cut them as you see fit. Past the west doorway and on the other side of the glass wall is another locker. It contains a few of the valuable stimpaks and other medical equipment. Go back to the crossroads and go east this time. There is elevator shaft there. Use the rope you should have gotten from Shady Sands, Junktown or the Hub, on it. Climb down.

Second floor, this is the living quarters. It is identical to the living quarters in Vault 13 except for the lack of environmental control, caved in tunnels, and infestation of large rodents with attitudes. This is also one of the few places pig rats exist. On the north side of the living quarters, is a caved in tunnel. Near the ruins is a box of 10mm ammo. The lockers in the south rooms contain a suit of leather armour and a coil of rope. If you haven't found a better suit of armour, put it on. Find the elevator shaft and use the rope on it. You will gain access to Vault 15 levels 2 and 3. Make your way to level 3 and head for the south-eastern corner. There you will get some experience and will be informed that you won't get the water chip here. Search the lockers. Inside you will find a Heckler and Koch MP9 submachine gun and some ammo. There should also be some dynamite in one of the lockers. Exit the vault.

There are two companions you can get in Junktown. There is Tycho, a ranger who spends his time in the bar on the northernmost part of time. Talk to him a few times and ask him to join if you wish. Tycho is proficient in rifles and shotguns.

The second companion is Dogmeat, your run-of-the-mill super-mutant killing attack dog. A townsman is having a problem getting into his house because Dogmeat has taken up residence there. Give Dogmeat some Iguana-on-a-stick to get him out of the house or wear a leather jacket to get him to join you. The leather jacket reminds him of his former master. After he joins you can switch armours and he'll still stay with you. Be aware, though, that you may have a problem when you decide to go to the Mutant Base. Since you cannot give your companions better armour in Fallout (fortunately that problem has been fixed for Fallout 2) you should leave them behind at the Brotherhood of Steel hangout or Vault 13. That is, unless you want to see them get cut up by bullets, lasers and rockets. Unfortunetly, you can't leave Dogmeat behind anywhere.

You can find Killian Darkwater, the mayor of Junktown, in the middle part of town. Talk to him. In the middle of the conversation there will be the assassination attempt on Darkwater. Kill the assassin. The Assassin is carrying a hunting rifle and some ammunition. Continue talking with Killian. He will propose for you to get a confession out of Gizmo, the local Mafia boss. Accept his proposal. Killian will give you a tape recorder and a bug.

From here you have a choice. You can either help Killian or Gizmo. If you choose to help Killian you can use two methods to get the confessions. Either talk directly to Gizmo or plant the bug on Gizmo. If you choose to talk to Gizmo discuss the failed assassination attempt and offer yourself as the man for the job. Then Gizmo will confess that he wants Darkwater's head. Accept his offer and return to Killian. Show him the recording and Killian will reward you with some free equipment. We suggest taking the stimpaks. He will then invite you to the 'Kill Gizmo Soirée'. Accept his offer to participate in Gizmo's execution. He will tell you to go talk to the captain of the guards at the front gate. Go there at talk with him. You will arrive in Gizmo's office where Gizmo and Killian will exchange insults. After that its simply shoot Gizmo and his bodyguard Izo. When you've killed the both of them, do not end combat right away. First search their bodies. Gizmo is carrying the only 9mm pistol and the only set of 9mm bullets in the area. End combat and you will recieve 600xp for dealing with Gizmo.

If you, on the other hand, choose to help Gizmo, talk to Gizmo about the failed assassination as above. Offer yourself as a replacement. Go to Killian's general store and shoot Killian. His guards will get a little annoyed that their boss is dead so will attack you. Kill them as necessary. You will get 600xp for the death of Killian. Go back to Gizmo and talk to him. He will suggest that you leave town Izo will then give you 2000 caps.

In the side room of Killian's general store is a safe. Inside the safe is 2000 caps, a gun guide, a stimpak and a .44 pistol with 8 rounds of JHP ammo. There are a few ways of getting to it.

One way is to sneak past the guards at the front door at night, and pick the lock. Then walk into the store, pick the lock on the other door. Inside the other room, sneak past Killian and pick the safe. Or one may try to pick the door to the other room in the day time without the need to break in through the front door. A third way is to plant some dynamite on the door and wait in a safe place. No one seems to mind when the door blows away. From there just walk in and pick the safe.

The Crash House, located west of Killian's general store, houses some intersesting people. Morcelles is the innkeeper. The Skulz gang is located in the northern room.

Ask Marcelles for room for the night. It should cost $25. She will show you to your room. In your room is a locker for storing your stuff but I recommend the lockers at Vault 13 or the Brotherhood of Steel. Sleep there. In the morning, Marcelles will tell you that some crazed Raider is holding Sinthia hostage. In the room above you this turns out to be true. There are three ways (that I know of) to deal with the raider. Ranked from simplest and least profitable to most complex and profitable.

One, you can simply shoot to kill. When he's lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood, Sinthia will tell you off and you get 400xp.

Two, knock him unconscious, but be sure not to accidentally kill him. I suggest you aim for the leg and don't use anything that will cut him up into little shreds. Sinthia will think you killed him and will start to yell at you. Just tell her he's fine and that he just has some broken bones. She'll calm down and you should get 600xp.

The third way is to talk him out of his hostage-taking insanity. Tell him t not to shoot the girl. He'll consider it and the conversation window will close. Be sure not to walk too close to him to continue the conversation or he'll go into a shooting craze. Next tell him you want to help. Say no harm will come to him and that he should release Sinthia. In this way you should be able to negotiate a deal with him that he leaves down and gets between $0-200. For this act of diplomacy you will recieve 1000xp.