1) To the Chryslus Building

East of Super-Duper Mart you’ll find the Farragut West Metro Station, and north of this you’ll find the Chryslus Building. Make your way there, where it has the honor being our first stop on the way to Canterbury Commons. Outside you’ll probably find Talon Company Mercs and Raiders. Whatever you have to fight outside, however, the foes inside are certainly more powerful.

2) Super Muntant Slaying

You’ll realise right away that this place is heavily occupied by Super Mutants, and there are good numer of them on the level above you. This is not a good posistion, so sneak over to the south into a hallway. Head up the hallway to the west, sneak attack killing Super Mutant as you go. This is yet another instance where our build shines, as guerilla tactics and stealth works well to minimize the threat posed by multiple-yet spread out-enemies. Go through a door to the left to find a room with several bookcases in it and go through a hole in the wall to the east to find a mostly-collapsed room. Under the desk in this room is a wooden crate with a Nuka-Cola Quantum inside.

3) Claiming the High Ground

Book - Guns and Bullets

Continue up the hallway to the west and follow it when it turns north. You’ll find a staircase on the left, which will get you up to the still-contested upper level. Once you kill these Super Mutants you’re free to loot the rest of the upper level and the middle part of the lower level at will. Ignore the locked door [Very Hard] on the lower level for now, instead explore the northern half of the lower level. You will find a locked door [Hard], which you can pick, or unlock via a terminal on the wall [Average]. In the middle of the room, on a well-lit table you’ll find an ammo box, a Scoped .44 Magnum, and a copy of Guns and Bullets . It’s almost like somebody WANTED us to find it! Head west to reach a door leading to the Chryslus Building Lower Offices.

4) Chryslus Building Master Key

This level starts off relatively quiet, so take your time looting the wealthy room you start out in and head east down a hallway. You’ll find that all the doors are locked [Very Hard]. You could pop a Mentat and wear the Vault 101 Utility Suit and pick all the locks (and it’s a great way to net experience, even at the cost of aggravation) but if you just want to get through head into the large room to the south to find a leveled Super Mutant with a Minigun. Kill it to receive the Chryslus Building Master Key and head back north.

5) Dogs, Drugs, and Dead Brahmin

In the eastern rooms to the north you’ll find some Vicious Dogs… maybe being kept for food? You’ll also find a bin full of Pre-War Money and some drugs, but otherwise nothing worth locking behind a [Very Hard] lock. The northern door to the west has some Rotting Dead Brahmin behind it, and the door to the south is similarly bereft of meaningful loot, save a Pre-War Book. All it really does is wrap around to the room where you fought the key-bearing Super Mutant. Since the northern part of the level is a bust explore the large room where you found the key.

6) Processing Area

Book - Pugilism Illustrated

This room is some kind of Super Mutant processing area. We’ve seen that Super Mutants take captives and often hold them for a while, doing terrible things to some and who knows what to those that don’t end up in gore bags, but we’ve not seen any where near the scale of this place. Due to the structural integrity of the floor the Super Mutants have smashed holes in the floor of this room and made containment pits out of the rooms below. Whatever they do to people here, you can tell business is good due to the number of skeletons and gore bags around the place. There are three recognisable parts of this room where walls used to better divide the place. In the north-eastern corner of the middle part you’ll find a counter with numerous bins on top. Inside one of the bins is a copy of Pugilism Illustrated .

7) The Stairs Down

South of the large central room you’ll find more, weak, Super Mutants. Loot the room and head down the stairs, you’ll find a Super Mutant standing on the staircase just begging to be shot with a sneak attack critical. In a room to the south-west (the only one down here with a closed door) you’ll find a Stealth Boy on the table. Head through the door leading to the Chryslus Building Basement.

8) Chryslus Building Basement

Book - Big Book of Science

To the east and south-east you’ll find offices with minor loot in them. To the west you’ll eventually find a room with numerous dead bodies, including some Rotting Brahmin Corpses, some Wastelanders, and a Raider. Continue to the west to find the building’s broiler room. On a metal shelf in this room you’ll find a Big Book of Science . Now head into the room to the north to find a kitchen, loot, and go through a hole in the wall to reach another room. There’s a Stealth Boy on top of a locked safe [Easy] and in the far eastern edge of the room is a wall safe [Easy], which can alternatively be opened via a wall terminal [Easy]. Head back to the room to the west and go up some stairs to the north to eventually reach a door to the Chryslus Building Reception Area, and thus, egress.

9) Fragball!

From the Chryslus Building head north-east a short distance to find a road running north. Follow this road north, and after a short distance you’ll find a pair of Raiders playing “Baseball”… except one of them is exclusively armed with Frag Grenades, and he’s not afraid to use them. After your impromptu game of Fragball, continue north until you find a four-way intersection. Keep going north and follow the curving road through a ruined town (we’re not actually quite close to the Raid House). Eventually you’ll come to a four-way intersection with a blue bar in the middle. Here you’ll want to turn east and follow the road until you find a three way intersection under an elevated railway. Turn north and follow this road until you hit Wheaton Armory.

10) Wheaton Armory

You’ll not find a larger collection of Raiders anywhere in the game… except perhaps Evergreen Mills. They lurk in the ruined buildings to the east, and near the armory, to the west. The most dangerous of the bunch is a Raider in the eastern building with a Missile Launcher. There are also plenty of things to loot around outside the armory. Make sure to hit the back of the semi, shack by the south gate, the southern most shack inside the gate which has a safe inside, and the ammo dump on the top level of the mostly collapsed building.

11) The Wheaton Armor Stash

Book - U.S. Army: 30 Handy Flamethrower Recipes

Head inside the armory when all the Raiders are dead and proceed with caution, as the place is heavily irradiated in areas. You should certainly consider popping a Rad-X for the trip. Head down some stairs until you find a passage leading north, with a ridiculously strong Mark VII Turret at the end of the tunnel. There’s a room to the left where you can activate a terminal to shut down the turret [Average] as well some ammo boxes and a first aid kit. The big cache awaits beyond a locked door [Very Hard], which can be unlocked by hacking a terminal [Very Hard]. Find a way inside and a great reward is yours, including two Missile Launchers, a Minigun, two Sniper Rifles, four Assault Rifles, two Radiation Suits, three Combat Knives, several Pulse Grenades and Pulse Mines, several Frag Mines, and no less than eleven ammo boxes. On the table next to the Missile launchers is a copy of U.S. Army: 30 Handy Flamethrower Recipes .

12) Truck Full of Goodies

Book - Chinese Army: Spec. Ops. Training Manual

North-east of Wheaton Armory, along the raised highway you can find a truck with a bunch of electrical equipment in the back. On a table near a Ham Radio you’ll find a copy of Chinese Army: Spec. Ops. Training Manual . There are also minor goodies in the back of the truck. Getting on top of the highway can be a bit of a pain, since, you know, it’s elevated. Just keep following it north until some rubble allows you to climb up to it. Once you’ve obtained your prize, backtrack to the Wheaton Armory.

13) Radio Signal Yankee Bravo

Book - Grognak the Barbarian

Exit the armory’s north gate and continue north a short distance until the road splits. Take the more ruined road leading uphill to the east, cross under our friendly elevated highway, continue east through a four-way intersection, and you should see Canterbury Commons in the distance… or at least its water tower. Of course, what journey in this guide would be complete without a little detour? In the distance to the south of the road you should see a radio tower gracing the skyline with its presence. Continue east along this road until the radio tower is directly south from you, then veer off the road towards it. Near it you’ll find an electrical switch which, if activated, will allow you to pick up the “Radio Signal Yankee Bravo”.

Head west over a cliff to find a drainage chamber. Inside are a number of ghouls, which are responsible for the curious… sounds… coming from the radio. In the room to the south you’ll find a copy of Grognak the Barbarian .

14) The Daily Duel

When you approach you’ll see two goofy people, one named the Antagonizer and another named the Mechanist. They’ll banter, then the Antagonizer’s ants will attack the Mechanist, and get decisively destroyed by his Sentry Bot. When the carnage is over, they’ll both flee and a man named Uncle Roe will greet you. Offer to help with his superhero problem and Roe will offer up 200 Caps. Succeed at a Speech challenge to double it. Question him about the superheroes and he’ll tell you to consult his nephew, Derek. All in good time, buddy, but first, we have some investments to consider…

15) Investing in Merchant Caravans

Ask Roe about the caravans, and if your Barter is high enough (and by now, it should be) you can get the merchants to specialize in their field… long story short, you pay money, the merchants expand their inventories. This gets them more Caps to trade, which will really help when you start hauling in expensive gear. We’re about at that point, and you know what they say: You gotta spend Caps, to make Caps. Or something like that. You can expand each merchant’s inventory twice, the first upgrade costs 200 Caps, and the second costs 500 Caps. That’s 700 Caps per merchant, with four merchants to upgrade. By now we should have more than enough Caps to drop 2800 on merchant upgrades, so do so. Below is a list of rewards you’ll get for your generosity.

As you can see, Crow has the most unique gift, albeit the most useless one, and Crazy Wolfgang has what is by far the most expensive gift.. Six Stealth Boys is almost worth the investment price!

16) Super Backstory

Book - Dean’s Electronics

Book - Grognak the Barbarian

Talk to Derek, who will tell you a bit about the Antagonizer and the Mechanist. He’ll tell you it was him who told the Mechanist to become a super hero, and that Joe Porter has some info about the Antagonizer. While you’re at it, pick-pocket a copy of Grognak the Barbarian from him. That’ll teach him to go around telling unstable people to become superheroes! Talk to Joe, and he’ll say that there was a girl whose family was killed by Ants named Tanya Christoff. Meh. Starting to sound as silly as a real comic book here. Once you’re done chatting people up, you can loot Dominic and Machete’s House, and Earnest “Uncle’ Roe’s House. In Dom’s House you’ll find a Tire Iron called Highwayman’s Friend on a metal shelf. There’s also a copy of Dean’s Electronics on one of the desks.

17) Ant’s Sting, or Protectron’s Gaze?

There are a number of ways to approach this quest, but the real consideration is how to get the best loot from them, right? Both have a unique weapon, but you can only get one. And of course both of them have their super hero outfits, which can be obtained in a number of ways. If you want the Anatogonizer’s weapon, a knife called Ant’s Sting , you’ll need to go find her and side with her against the Mechanist ( Steps 18-23 ), if you want the Mechanist’s laser pistol called Protectron’s Gaze you’ll have to side with him against the Antagonizer ( Steps 24-25 ). Frankly neither one is terribly great, but the Ant’s Sting is exceptionally lousy, being little better than a normal Knife (not Combat Knife mind you, just a Knife.) It does some poison damage, if you’ve got the time to wait for it to do its work… but overall, the Protectron’s Gaze is a much more worthy prize.

18) Robot Repair Center

You can reach the Robot Repair Center-the lair of the Mechanist-by heading south from Canterbury Commons. This abode is atop a small hill. From the entrance head north, through a doorway, and turn when you get the chance. Here you’ll find an elevator that leads to the Mechanist’s Forge [Hard]. If you can get past this lock, you’ll be able to bypass this area entirely and get right to the Mechanist… but there’s stuff worth looting, so let’s just pretend we can’t.

19) Thanks, Frank

In the room to the west of the entrance you’ll find a terminal that talks about a stash of Pulse Grenades. Go to the south-western corner of the room and either grab the key from behind the computer or unlock the metal box [Average] to score a half-dozen Pulse Grenades, which will help with the bots milling about. Naturally, however, there’s a robot in this room. With a high Sneak and Robotics Expert you’ll able to put it down without a fight.

20) Deactivating Sector B

Head north and find a locked door [Average], which opens into a large room. Avoid or destroy the turret and head up the stairs to the west and go into the room at the top. You should now be in a room with a terminal called “Sector B Security Terminal” [Easy]. Shut down the security to pacify the robots east of here.

21) Deactivating Sector A

Go through the southern door leading west and head to the south western corner of the room to find a small security room. Pick the locked safe [Easy] on the table and grab the Sector A Encryption Key. Now activate the terminal ‘Sector A Emergency Terminal’ and either shut down the turrets in Sector A, or activate the emergency pulse explosion, which will destroy all the robots in the room. You can also sneak along the ground to the north to find the Sector A Terminal [Easy] in a room under the platform the Turrets are on, but it seems easier to just sneak up to the upper floor.

22) To the Forge

Book - Nickola Tesla and You

Now you can go through the door nearby to the Forge, but since you’ve spent the time to make your way through all this security, why not loot the place first? There’s a copy of Nikola Tesla and You on the bottom floor of this room (Sector A, or the westernmost room on this level.) It’s on a table, near a deactivated Protectron. When you’re done, head through the door to the Forge.

23) Annihilate the Antagonizer

Book - Lying, Congressional Style

On a desk to the south will be a copy of Lying, Congressional Style . Activate the Coffee Brewer to open a typically over-the-top comic book hero door.

You have three real choices now, either use Black Widow on the Mechanist to get him to give up his suit and quit causing problem, pick a fight with him and kill him, or join him in his fight against the Antagonizer. If you join him the Anatagonizer will attack, and the Mechanist will rush off to fight her. Head downstairs to partake in the scuffle and either wait for the Mechanist to get killed so you can get both their suits, or kill the Antagonizer and then kill the Mechanist yourself… Or, if you’re a truly loyal sidekick, kill the Antagonizer and then talk to the Mechanist. He’ll want her suit back, which, if you give it to him and don’t end his “super hero” spree is considered an evil act. He’ll give you the Protectron’s Gaze for it, though.

If you use Black Widow you’ll get him to stop being the Mechanist, and he’ll give you his suit. If you want both suits AND Protectron’s Gaze you’ll have to give the Mechanist the Antagonizer’s suit, then kill him and loot him for both suits.

24) Canterbury Tunnels

If you want to find the Antagonizer, you’ll have to go north from Canterbury Commons to find the Canterbury Tunnels. Beware of traps in this level, as the Antagonizer has made the very un-antlike choice to place defenses all around… or maybe these traps are here to keep the Antagonizer in? Either way, continue on and go down some stairs, after which the path will split, one route goes west and the other goes south. Head south first and disarm the Frag Mines. There is a Stealth Boy on a metal shelf you should grab before backtracking and heading down the west path. Activate the electrical switch to open up a staircase which will lead to a sewer, and from there, to a cavern complex. Keep going until you find the door leading to the Antagonizer’s Lair.

25) Murder the Mechanist

Head forward until you find the Antagonizer on her throne. If you found out her name, you can try to convince her to stop by succeeding at a Speech challenge. You can also provoke her into a fight. Or, you can join her side against the Mechanist, in which case the Mechanist will show up with several Protectrons. Kill him and give the Antagonizer the Mechanist’s uniform to recieve the Ant’s Sting. After which, you can always kill her and take her, and the Mechanist’s costume. Or, after defeating the Mechanist you can talk her out of being the Antagonizer. Make sure to grab the Nuka-Cola Quantum by the Antagonizer’s throne, whatever you decide.

26) The Superhuman Payday

When you’re done, return to Canterbury Common and tell Uncle Roe about your success. He burdens me with 600 Caps and the quest experience, which gets me another level increase. Now we’re done with all the quests we’ve set out to do at this point, it’s time to go collect a few more Bobbleheads. This will require us to travel to Evergreen Mills and the National Guard Depot. Both of which have some tough encounters, but nothing we can’t handle by now. Let’s deal with the National Guard Depot first, which requires us to grab one more item. Head north-west until you find the Temple of the Union.