Walking with Spirits is a Fallout 3 quest and achievement and trophy that is added to the game with the Point Lookout add-on.
Quick walkthrough
| Main Quest: Walking with Spirits | |||||
| Infiltrate the Ark & Dove cathedral to the north (the tribal's base of operations) to discover the reasoning behind their attacks. | |||||
| After speaking to the tribal out in front of the cathedral, travel to the Sacred Bog Entrance. | |||||
| Fight your way to the Mother Punga and activate it. | |||||
| Walk out from the bog while experiencing hallucinations. | |||||
| Return to the Ark & Dove cathedral. | |||||
| Leads to: Hearing Voices | |||||
Detailed walkthrough
Finding the Tribals
After the Lone Wanderer assists Desmond in defending the Calvert Mansion from tribals, Mr. Lockheart's next request is to infiltrate the Ark & Dove cathedral to the north (the tribals' base of operations) to discover the reasoning behind their attacks. Although the cathedral gates are locked and seemingly abandoned, a guard sees the Lone Wanderer from a distance and speaks to them via an intercom. Being snide to him will break his concentration and make him drop his shamanistic attitude long enough to issue a scolding. Although he says that the tribals don't "just take any recruit," he sends the Lone Wanderer to the rite of initiation without even a face-to-face meeting. The next task is to venture out west into the Sacred Bog Entrance and take part in the Ritual of the Mother Seed.
Seeds of Vision
Inside the bog, many mirelurks (and possibly swamplurks depending on character level) appear. At the final grove, the Mother Punga and its purple seeds will be ready for the taking. Once the Mother Punga is activated, it will no longer be possible to pick anything up until the punga effects wear off. Taking the seeds of the plant causes an incapacitating gas to spray out from the fruit.
The Lone Wanderer then awakens to a psychedelic hallucination. Since the Mother Punga is found at a dead end, the only option is for the player to go back the way they came. On the way back, giant bobbleheads, called "Schmault-Tec bubbleheads" (fake versions of Vault-Tec bobbleheads) appear, none of which can actually be added to the player character's inventory. Cryptic messages are written on them, ranging from expressing the character's inner doubts and fears to making fun of their misfortunes. The hallucinations encompass the Lone Wanderer's experiences in a cryptic fashion (such as Nuka Cola Quantum from the Nuka Cola Challenge, or a Megaton Bomb from The Power of the Atom).
The first hallucination is a large red translucent bonesaw, which appears to be randomly sawing into the ground. Next will be Nuka-Cola Quantums that make baby sounds when they explode. After this, there will be dolls on poles that appear to be waving, or perhaps pointing the way ahead. There will also be silver needles sewing stitches into the ground.
A violin plays in the background near any of the several trees that have "grown" into the shape of the instrument. Ghost ghouls will attack (which won't cause damage, and which may or may not even be visible). Journeying through an upside-down swamp leads to Catherine's skeleton, labeled "Mom," upon an operating table surrounded by party balloons, displaying the cruel point that it was giving birth that caused her death.
Further on, there are several dead bodies of various people from the Capital Wasteland that disintegrate when searched, including Lucas Simms (floating inside the rocks between and to the left of Amata and the settler), Moira Brown, Amata, Elder Lyons, and an unnamed settler. When interacted with they disappear; they can, however, be picked up and moved around.
Last up is a larger version of the Megaton bomb with a character similar to Mister Burke named "Mister Break" standing in front of it. In the background behind the bomb, the Washington Monument can be seen. In Tobar's voice he says, "Congratulations, my boy (or "my dear" for a female character), you are going to pull through and everything will be right as rain." When spoken to, he will say, "No, no. Don't try to get up yet. You'll only hurt yourself." The bomb then "explodes," shaking the screen and controller but without dealing actual damage, and the scene cuts to the front of the Sacred Bog, the hallucination having ended.
Return to the Tribals
At this point, it will be possible to enter the Ark & Dove cathedral. Also, the player character, when viewed in third-person, will appear without any headwear and will have a shaven head with a large scar. It will not be possible to re-equip headwear until Nadine removes the scar. Apparently, she has joined the tribals to procure their punga, in failing to achieve her original goal of discovering treasure in Point Lookout.
Understanding the Visions
During the Tailing the Tomboy quest, it is revealed that Tobar follows the Lone Wanderer into the Sacred Bog. While the Lone Wanderer is unconscious from the effects of the punga fruit, Tobar removes a piece of their brain (he allegedly has done this to many of the tribals as well). Undergoing this surgery earns the Point Lookout Tribe's acceptance. The hallucination at the Sacred bog entrance can be interpreted as follows:
- The saw cutting represents Tobar beginning the surgery.
- The needle that "sews" its way along the side of the path is Tobar sewing the wound shut.
- The part where Mister Break speaks is actually Tobar speaking as he ends the surgery.
- Some things seen during the hallucination have a "real world" counterpart: (in the order the real things are seen) the bomb is a giant rock, the Washington Monument is a large rock formation seen in the background before the hallucination, the Wanderer's mother on a gurney is also a rock, the Perception bubblehead is a doll hanging from the trees, the Agility bubblehead is a rock, the exploding bottles are dolls hanging from the trees along the path, the violins are winding trees, the Strength bubblehead is a small rock, and the Intelligence bubblehead is also another rock.
- The bubbleheads are also what Tobar says. The Intelligence bubblehead is him commenting on the Lone Wanderer falling for the trap. The Strength bubblehead is him commenting on how the Lone Wanderer can't fight him. The Endurance bubblehead is him commenting on the surgery.
"Bubbleheads"
There are seven "Schmault-Tec bubbleheads" found during the hallucination, each representing a SPECIAL attribute. The bubbleheads are larger than standard bobbleheads and do not behave like the latter by adding points. Instead, each displays a taunt that reflects the related statistic of the bubblehead. The Perception bubblehead is Tobar commenting on the Lone Wanderer's face post-surgery and the Agility, Charisma, and Luck bubbleheads are him commenting on what the Lone Wanderer says while under the Punga's influence.
Below is the message each bubblehead contains in the order they can be found:
- Intelligence: "Tsk. Tsk. Walked right into another trap. Exactly how stupid are you?" (Found immediately upon leaving the area with the Mother Punga)
- Strength: "This is one situation you're not going to be able to fight your way out of." (Found on a small dot of land on the way back)
- Endurance: "Keep it up, you're almost there... wherever 'there' may be... probably nowhere."
- Agility: "Isn't it funny how everyone you get close to ends up leaving?" (Found around where exploding Nuka-Cola Quantums start appearing)
- Perception: "This doesn't look right, not right at all." (Found upside-down where the world is upside-down)
- Charisma: "Blech. If my kid looked like that, I'd abandon it too." (Found in-between the legs of the skeleton labeled 'Mom' lying on a hospital bed, to represent Catherine giving birth)
- Luck: "Dead mother, life in a post-nuclear Wasteland and not a friend in it. Yeah, you aren’t exactly blessed." (Found near Mister Break and the atomic bomb)
Reward
Access to the tribals' headquarters, 300 XP, and the Punga Power! perk.
Quest stages
Notes
- The Elder Lyons hallucination will still appear even if he has not been encountered in The Waters of Life.
- Taking the Charisma bubblehead causes 'Mom's' lifeline to stop and turn into a flatline.
- On the path with the dolls, all of them will raise their arms and point to the correct path when approached.
- Wearing the ghoul mask will keep the ghouls in the hallucination from attacking.
- Killing the ghouls before they disappear makes their corpses stay, after which they can be looted.
- With the Cannibal perk, it is possible to feed on the corpses of Amata, Elder Lyons, Moira, and the unnamed Megaton settler during the hallucination sequence.
- Taking the punga seeds as part of the quest has the side effect of removing all rads.
- Mister Break can be attacked and rendered unconscious, after which his ammunition can be pickpocketed, with Karma loss, when he gets up to walk back to his position.
- Any items collected during the hallucination will remain in inventory even after the hallucination ends. Likewise, all rads accumulated will remain.
- Nadine can be asked to remove the post-surgical scar even after leaving and returning later.
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