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| Fallout 4 created by Bethesda Game Studios. Images used for educational purposes only. |
Prerequisites: Complete Minutemen quests
Trigger: Preston Garvey
Reward: 98 Bottlecaps, 218 XP
- To trigger this quest you need to get deep enough into the Minutemen quest line that Preston starts to hand out assignments. Once he does he will eventually give you this one. (I got it well before retaking the Castle, if that helps. If you even know what that means yet.)
- Greentop Nursery is located in the far northeast of the map. If you’ve been to Tenpines Bluff - which is likely - you can find the Nursery by crossing the countryside to the east. You’re quite likely to come across General Atomics Galleria in the process, as well as Dark Hollow Pond; if the Hunter Mirelurks in the Pond give you trouble, you can easily lure them to the Galleria and let the Mr. Gutsies wipe ‘em out for you. There are several Stingwings along the way, as well, but they’re much easier to kill on your own.
- There should be two Settlers at Greentop Nursery; talk to one of ‘em and he’ll ask about the Minutemen. He’ll talk about problems with Ghouls; agree to help. This will put the National Guard Training Yard location on your map, to the southeast.
National Guard Training Yard
- Distress Signal! That’s… distressing.
- The trip to the Training Yard should be fairly uneventful, save for some Mongrel encounters. Stay off the roads and you should have no troubles at all. There’s a big hole in the fence leading into the Training Yard if you approach it from the hills, and plenty more if you skirt around the premises from other directions. Not a difficult place to enter anymore. We’ll start from the north, where you can see monkey bars.
- Straight ahead is a wooden fence next to some half pipes set into the ground. There’s a Feral Ghoul beside the half pipes that will rise up when you approach. Get behind the wall before engaging it, ‘cause there’s a Turret on a nearby building to your left that will open fire. There’s another Turret on the opposite side of the same building. This building is the National Guard Armory; it’s closed by a Master lock. If you can’t break in this way, you can find a method to unlock it later.
- Go down the stairs on your left. There’s a building here that you can climb onto via wooden walkways. Up top you’ll find a Turret, and beside it some ammo in a box. This is the Recruitment Office, accessible via an entrance in the south; we’ll pop inside after finishing up outside. Mind the active Frag Mines by the door, and the Turret above the entrance.
- There are two other items of note on the grounds. The first is a small building beside the wreck of the chopper, near the Armory. There’s a box inside with some unremarkable items - and it’s guarded by a Frag Mine that’s sitting right outside the door. Be careful. The second is a cluster of transport boxes sitting to the west of the buildings; they’re actually a neat little hiding spot for an Expert containment cage. Inside is a suit of Power Armor, Fusion Core and all. Nice!
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| Skulking about in Fallout 4's National Guard Barracks. Shooting Feral Ghouls in the leg is fuuuun. |
National Guard Recruitment Office
- The entrance of this ruined building is safe, but the situation heats up in the very next room, where you’ll have multiple Ghouls rushing you when you walk too far. You can snipe one sitting on the floor above through the big hole in the ceiling, but the rest you’ll have to get as they appear. Move slowly and you can V.A.T.S. all of them quite easily.
- This room branches in multiple directions. On your immediate right is a bathroom with some medical supplies. Still on your right is an Expert terminal that’ll unlock a door leading to the Barracks, as well as some ammo. Straight ahead and still on your right is a room that will probably still have an active Ghoul - unless you made lots of noise - and, along with some crafting items, a well-preserved body. The body has Knight Astlin’s Holotape and Knight Astlin’s Holotag, among other things. This is part of The Lost Patrol quest, which you’ll get upon entering the room.
- Back to the main room. You’ll see some stairs on your left. Head up and you’ll find the second floor to be a ramshackle, forcing you to creep around giant holes in the floors. The room to the left of the stairs contains an Advanced wall safe with a variety of ammo; the room straight ahead has the National Guard Officer’s Password in the desk; and the room on the right contains some craftable odds and ends. If you couldn’t enter the Barracks before (like me!) you can use the Password to get through.
National Guard Barracks
- There are two Ghouls in the small corridor between the Recruitment Office and the Barracks, and if you’re like me, one of them will be a Legendary. Yay! You have very little space to run around, so I recommend shooting out the legs of the tougher Ghoul. It’s easy to get the drop on them so long as you crouch immediately after appearing.
- There’s a Feral Ghoul Reaver just to the side of the entrance hall, and it will probably attack once you move far enough in. Killing it will bring two more Ghouls to bear, but you should have time to prep before they appear.
- Stairs at the end of the hall lead to the second floor. The path splits here. To the left is a small room with another Ghoul, as well as a terminal which you can use to unlock the Armory, if you failed to do so earlier. (Again, Password is needed.) To the right the hallway splits again, and if Ghoul Problem at Greentop Nursery is your active quest you’ll see your target down and to the right, on the first floor. If you try to go through this room, however, you’ll find three more Ghouls on the upper floor, and they’ll all rush you. You have two options:
- Draw these guys out into the hall and turn it into a shooting gallery. Simple enough.
- Ignore them and go into the door on your left. There’s a hole in the floor (along with some medical supplies in the corner of the room) that leads to the lower floor, and the room with your target. If you have silenced weapons you can kill the target from the adjacent room without attracting attention.
The dude on the lower floor is the Glowing One, a nasty, irradiated Ghoul that gives off Rads if you get too close and is just generally vicious. Shoot its legs out or just throw an explosive for an easier kill. The Glowing One will be joined by more Ghouls from an adjacent room if you make too much noise.
- Once the Glowing One is dead, feel free to continue exploring. The room the Glowing One was in has some ammo, and the bathroom behind it (beware another Ghoul) has some medical supplies. There’s a serving room / kitchen on your right with some assorted items, including a U.S. Covert Operations Manual on one of the tables. The room above the Glowing One contains a few ammo boxes, and the adjacent washroom has medical supplies in one of the urinals. (Also, a Plunger. Why not?) You can use the hallway just past the Glowing One’s room to leave.
National Guard Armory
- Almost done. Let’s check this place out first. Be careful, as there will probably be a Ghoul right at the entrance. Also here are several Laser Tripwires; disable all of them for some nice parts. Be ready for a Ghoul that will rush you out of the back room. Be careful! There’s a Ghoul on the other side of the door to your right, and its stupid flailing through the door may activate the Tripwires. This will bring a Protectron and a Turret online.
- Once you’ve gotten rid of present threats, check the back room. There’s a trunk with tons of ammo in it back here, a Novice locked tool case with assorted goodies, and Weapons / Armor Workbenches.
- There’s an adjacent room from the entrance with a terminal you can hack - or, if you have the Password, you can walk right through. Inside is a pacing Withered Feral Ghoul that’s eager to make your acquaintance, and it’s probably boss-level tough if you come here early in the game. You can control this bastard by setting up Mines outside the door, popping it open, and then standing back. At the very least you should blow its legs to hell, making for an easier kill. It’s worth getting in here…
- … because there’s another suit of Power Armor inside, along with a Power Armor Station and four Fusion Cores in a nearby ammo box. It’s not as complete a suit as the one you found outside, but, hey, beggars and choosers, amirite?
- One note of warning! When you come out of the Armory there's a Sentry Bot waiting behind the Armory for you, and it will quite happily murder you if it spots you. Either find cover to fight it or get out of there as quickly as possible. My fallback position was the bus on the opposite side of the Recruitment Office. Hop in there and hide and it will give up on you pretty quickly. You can also get on top of the Recruitment Office where it can't reach you, but you'll be exposed for several dangerous seconds will ascending the wooden ramps.
- All done! Pop back to Greentop Nursery and speak to the Settler to get your reward. This will open Greentop as a settlement you can manipulate according to your benevolent whims. Return to Preston to finalize the quest and get your experience.