Vault 22

Vault 22 is one of the Vaults constructed by the Vault-Tec Corporation in the Mojave Wasteland. It is located south-southwest of the Griffin Wares sacked caravan and directly west of The Thorn. By 2281, the Vault home to a variety of plantlife and wild animals, most notably giant mantises. Humans, the intended occupants, are nowhere to be seen. The Vault is located south-south-west of the Griffin Wares sacked caravan and directly west of The Thorn.

Background
Designed as a green Vault, people selected for populating the Vault were all dedicated to one goal: Sustaining the Vault population with plants grown within its confines. Some of their most successful experiments were, in fact, donated by defense contractors, such as the fungus that would eventually become the Vault's undoing.

Beauveria Mordicana was originally an entomopathogenic fungus designed for pest control. When a pest is exposed to the fungal spores, the fungus infests it and begins to colonize the host body. The host eventually dies due to failure of body functions, as the colony expands through its body. However, the dead body continues to be controlled by the fungal colony, allowing it to move around and infect more pests by spraying spores around the host body. While effective in the long term, it still takes between 10 to 20 days to kill its prey and achieves limited effectiveness when dealing with unsocial pests. The fungus was originally developed at the X-22 botanical garden at the Big MT, though the technology was eventually shared with Vault-Tec Industries, to enable botanical experiments at Vault 22.

As with many technologies coming out of the Big MT, the fungus was a Pandora's box. Once the Vault scientists began experimentation with the fungus after the Great War, they effectively signed their death warrant. While ostensibly designed to provide effective means of long-term pest control, the fungus was perfectly capable of infecting human bodies. Fungal spores gradually spread through the Vault, slowly infecting the population. The first confirmed infection was Dr. Harrison Peters, who also provided insight into the development of the infection. It begins with pneumonia as the fungus invades the lungs, eventually transforming into chills, a fever, and a terrible racking cough. The fungal colony causes the body to actively reject anti-fungal treatments, leading to death due to organ failure. As with smaller pests, the fungal colony continues to grow and develop. Eventually, it spreads far enough to establish control over the deceased person's body, becoming a highly aggressive spore carrier, a mindless beast whose sole purpose is spreading the spores. The untreatable infection baffled the scientists and spread through the Vault like wildfire.

The widespread infection led to a collapse of social order in the Vault. Infected humans were turned into spore carriers, with the airborne fungal spores threatening the remaining living. Scientists attempted to eradicate them by igniting gas deliberately released in the lower levels of the Vault. However, the release triggered an incredibly aggressive reaction from the carriers, which attacked the scientists, tearing them limb from limb.

By 2096, the Vault was finally was abandoned and a party of 118 survivors made way for the Zion Canyon. The dead eventually mutated into spore carriers or became stationary colonies of the fungus. The dwellers were savages. They traveled to the Zion Canyon. With over one hundred men and women, strong discipline, tactics, and firepower, the small band of Mexican survivors camped out there posed no threat to the dwellers. They hit the survivors' camp on February 11th, 2096, killing all the men and shooting down women and children that resisted. The remainder was taken to the main camp of the dwellers and penned in like livestock.

Randall Clark, the guardian of the valley, was desperate to help the Mexican survivors. Over the next two days, he surveyed the area. Vault 22 dwellers were organized well, with patrols and sentries set up along all approaches into the camp, except for the stream. The coughing among the dwellers puzzled Clark, but he ignored it as he prepared to save the surviving Mexicans. He went into the camp on February 14th. What he saw snapped something inside him. The Vault 22 dwellers killed and ate everyone they took from the Mexican survivors' camp. Clark retaliated, waging a brutal war of attrition against them. With his rifle in hand and all the explosives he could use, he ambushed the dwellers where he could and booby trapped bodies and weapons he could not take. By the end of February, he killed 24 dwellers in a cold, merciless campaign of vengeance. In the ten days it took to accomplish this, he only suffered one wound: a 10mm steel jacket round through the thigh, thankfully missing the femoral. Though he remained unseen by survivors, he was forced to move camp when on March 2nd, a small patrol nearly uncovered his camp in the cave when one of their men was caught in a deadfall trap. Panic fire almost hit him. After he disposed of the intruders, he moved camp to Cueva Guarache. Victory came ten months later. After losing six concurrent Overseers and more than eighty members of the group to Clark and sickness, the dwellers gave up and fled the canyon, after eating their dead for nourishment. History loses track of them past that point, maybe for the better. Occasionally, damaged PIP-Boys and jumpsuits from the vault would find their way into the hands of prospectors.

The Vault itself fell into disrepair over the years, overrun by the plants and wildlife that thrived in the conditions within. The occasional scavenger quickly fell prey to the creatures dwelling within or the fungus, if they managed to survive. It wasn't until roughly 2281, when it piqued the interest of others. More specifically, Thomas Hildern, Director of OSI East. He has hired multiple mercenaries to retrieve the secret of the Vault, hoping to find a way to enhance the agricultural output of the NCR and stave off projected famine. Of course, the biggest benefit would be a major promotion for him. His latest hire, Keely, has gone missing much like the previous mercenaries, but this time, the situation is different...

Layout
The entrance of this vault is quite unusual. It is advertised with a sign that reads "Welcome to Vault 22" covered by "stay out! The plants kill!". The Vault door leads directly outside, unlike most that have a natural rock formation or tunnel enclosing the entrance.

Once inside the Vault, the Courier will come to a door that leads to a room with an elevator and stairs. From here on out, the player will encounter spore carriers, spore plants, and giant mantises throughout the Vault. The vault is split into five levels, the different floors can be accessed by repairing the main elevator within the Vault (requires repair skill of 50) or accessed by perpendicular staircases.

1st floor - Main Entrance
Immediately upon entering the vault, turn to the left to find a usable mattress, a duffle bag with some supplies, and one of Keely's terminals with entries 1 and 2. Next to the mattress hidden between two books is a Programmer's Digest.

2nd floor - Oxygen Recycling
From the entrance of the lab take a right and continue to the room directly across the hall to find one of Keely's terminals with entries 3, 4, and 5 in the series.

3rd floor - Food Production
The key card to access the tunnels is located in the Common Quarters (the floor below). Once inside, an average locked door must be opened on the lower level in the northwestern corner of the room. Once inside, the first room on the left, on a shelving unit will have the 'Vault 22 Cave Door Keycard'.

From the elevator, go down to the hallway and into the first room on the right to find one of Keely's terminals with entries 6 and 7 in the series.

For the quest Bleed Me Dry, the Pile of giant mantis egg(s) will spawn in the caverns down a side tunnel guarded by a giant mantis female and several giant mantis nymphs.

4th floor - Common Areas
From the entrance to the Commons, take a right over the little bridge and straight back to the billiard room for one of Keely's terminals with entries 8 and 9 in the series. The keycard that unlocks the door to the tunnels on the Food production level is found in the lower level of the Common Areas in the Quarters section on a shelf in the first room to the left. If the keycard cannot be found, check the floor near the shelf as it may have somehow fallen off. It is a darkish red/orange color.

Also found in the Commons, when you take the stairs down to the lower level and open the first door on the right. There is another room to the right and there will be a laser pistol on the table and a Flamer in the far corner. There are electrical flashes in the room.

5th floor - Pest Control
This floor is filled with deadly "Savage" spore carriers. The large cavern contains many giant mantises and spore plants. Five mantis ootheca and Keely are located here.

Notable loot

 * AER14 prototype - on the fifth floor; Pest Control, enter the stairway door to the Common Areas directly to your right which has a very easy lock. The AER14 is laying on the ground next to a scorched skeleton with some energy cells.
 * Flamer - located in a room labeled "Utility Room" in the lower southern part of the 4th Floor Common Areas. A large supply of fuel is located in the same room.
 * Laser pistol - on a table to your left as you enter the room with the flamer and decent amount of ammunition.
 * Programmer's Digest Next to a mattress, under a book in the little camp set up at the Vault entrance.
 * Tales of a Junktown Jerky Vendor - located on the 5th level "Vault 22 - Pest Control". If you take elevator to "Pest Control", then turn left and go up the stair to a large room with the door that leads to the caves Food Production, turn left and it is on the long table with bubbling vials or on floor in front of the long table.
 * Frag grenades can be found in the second floor room where Keely briefs you on the plan to destroy the spores.
 * Cave fungus on the floor in the bar on the 4th floor (Common Areas level).
 * 6 HEPA 20 cartridge filters, used for Still in the Dark, located in a blocked-off section of 2nd level "Oxygen Recycling" which can only be accessed via the cave system surrounding the vault (the room and its cave entrance are visible through a window on the main part of the 2nd level). There are entrances to these caves on the 5th level "Pest Control", and on the 3rd level "Food Production", the terminal here will not open the door to the caves without the Cave Access keycard, which is found on 4th level "Common Area", downstairs on a shelf in the bedroom with the baby carriage. Once inside the destination room, the last locker on the left contains the HEPA filters.
 * A Food additive meant for Cpl. William Farber in Camp McCarran. When exiting the elevator on the 3rd Floor-Food Production level, make your way down the main hallway and enter the last hallway on the left before the main hallway turns right. Enter the first room on the left and walk to the back where there is a small office-like room with spores growing in front of the desk. The food additive is sitting on the top of the desk, but can be knocked over into the corner by a spore carrier.
 * Numerous Vault 22 jumpsuits - are located on 4th floor-common area.

Behind the scenes

 * Vault 22 was designed by Jesse Farrell.
 * Spare Us the Cutter
 * There are two cut fully voiced NPCs here. It seems the ghoul scientist Keely brought two robots with her, Koch and Bohr (both named after real world scientists). Protectron Bohr is not even placed in the game world, but would presumably be located at one of the upper levels of the vault where there are no enemies and where Keely has scientific equipment set up. Bohr (V22Bohr) simply tells the player Keely has gone on below and does not know where she is and has no other use.
 * The sentry bot Koch (V22Koch) is found further down, in the areas where the spore creatures first appear. He (in fact Koch's scripts refer to the robot as both male AND female) is present in the final game, but disabled. When the player encounters him he is broken, and can be fixed with a repair skill check. Koch's a real mess; the value used for the skill check to repair him is inconsistent between what is told to the player (repair 40) in the messages displayed when examining him, and the actual value checked in the script (repair 60). Once the player gets him working again, further bugs appear. He is "dead" on first being discovered, and when resurrected the following command is used: 'V22KochREF.resurrect 1'. This resurrects a dead actor and makes them use an animation to get up again. This argument (the number 1 at the end) is useless on sentry bots as they have no "get up" animation. This would be fine but for the fact that it also causes a weird as hell bug - Koch will literally fall apart randomly once revived this way. A strange animation bug kicks in and his model's parts collapse into a heap on the floor, only to leap back into place again. Instead V22KochREF.resurrect 0 should have been used. Even then this results in him weirdly falling out of the sky on revival due to how the game engine works. Once revived the player is then told Koch cannot move due to being damaged. This makes him completely useless, as combat is his only function and up here there are no enemies. Furthermore he is part of the generic "robotfaction" which is actually allied to the spore creatures, and will attack the player if they are in combat with the spore creatures in his presence!
 * Combine the above with the fact that Keely doesn't even acknowledge either character and it's not hard to see why they were cut. They diminish the tense, lonely atmosphere by their presence.

Bugs

 * The key card from quarters (needed to enter the cave) can, on rare occasions, never appear and cannot be found.
 * With the PS3 system update 3.60, the "trigger" event to download the data from the terminal on Level 5 doesn't happen, preventing continuation of the storyline.
 * Take caution if you are to take ED-E on to the fifth floor and trigger the flames. Make sure ED-E is in a room where it is protected from the flames as it can be "killed" even if you are not in Hardcore mode and never register as being dead (in fact you will still see a marker indicating that he is at Vault 22) thus robbing you of having a second follower for the rest of the game. If you don't want to have to worry about this, just have him wait at the entrance or at your Lucky 38 suite.
 * When inside the Vault, the door has another texture problem. You can still see the 92 but it also shows a 101 and an overwrite sign from the doors (you need to use the console to see this).
 * Many times while in Vault 22 your companions will sense enemies nearby, when in fact they are on another level of the Vault. This makes them run off to the corners of rooms, stairwells, etc. in search of their foe(s).
 * If entering the Vault for the HEPA 20 cartridge filters and talking to Keely she will not appear in her lab and the door to exit the Vault will need a key to unlock with the key and Keely will be impossible to find. Exiting the game and restarting from that point seems to fix this problem.
 * Sometimes, the giant mantises outside the Vault do not spawn. They are likely to spawn when you exit, though, so be prepared for five or so mantises on top of you if this happens.
 * Leaving companions outside of Vault 22 and then entering the Vault will cause a glitch where your companions disappear. They are noted on your world map as being at Vault 22, but they are not there.
 * If you complete the Quest There Stands the Grass before unlocking the door that leads to where Keely is and then rescue her, she will still attempt to have you do her portion of the quest which includes her locking the front door. Since you've already dealt with the data, you cannot do anything else for her after activating the gas on the 5th floor and remain locked in. (Killing Keely on the second floor, after being asked to activate gas, should generate a network key on her corpse for the computer. Click on terminal and unlock doors.)
 * ED-E appears upon entering level five via the elevator even though he is told to wait elsewhere, even if told to wait outside outside of Vault 22.

Appearances
Vault 22 appears only in Fallout: New Vegas.