Springvale School

Springvale Elementary School (S.E.S.) was a school servicing the eponymous Virginian town, Springvale. Located in a scenic location on the shores of the Potomac River, this institution of learning became a raider fortress by 2277.

Background
Providing pupils from Springvale with the very best in education, the Elementary School used contemporary curriculum to create model American citizens. Regular monthly meetings of the school board ensured that community-building activities, like family reading nights, served to bring the entire community closer together. Like other schools nationwide, the SES participated in the Civil Defense Administration program designed to the educate children in the most effective ways of surviving a nuclear attack, with the animated turtle acting as instructor.

The nuclear holocaust on October 23 ended the building's use as a school. For nearly two centuries, it stood empty, weathering the elements. Upon first glance it appears that time wasn't kind to it: seeming that the facade crumbled and half of the building eventually collapsed in on itself, as the support beams failed. This theory is disproved upon further research of the terminal outside to the left of the School Library, belonging to a raider boss. This raider boss is only identified by their terminal username "SUK ME HAHAHA". The terminal gives information regarding the underground mining operation under the school. According to the entry, the diggers became lazy and utilized explosives to get through the tunnels. The intial detonation shook lower support beams, forcing the already unstable north eastern portion of the school to collapse, opening up several classrooms on 2 floors and the lower basement. Only about half of the school remained in any usable condition, though thankfully, the power lines connecting it to the still live electrical grid survived, allowing lights to remain active.

By 2277, the ruined School was claimed by a gang of raiders under the leadership of Boppo. The leader was visionary in his claiming of the ruins, but less so in his long term plans: While his men had success raiding the local caravans, he wanted to raid Megaton, which earned him a bullet to the face delivered by Sheriff Lucas Simms. His replacement had other plans. Rather than waste time trying to raid the fortified city, he decided to try and tunnel into Vault 101. The raiders dug through the floor and the foundations in the basement, slowly making their way under the ground towards Vault 101. Initial success made them bold and they began using mines to clear a passage. While this further weakened the crumbling school, adding several windows to it, it was effective enough to warrant attacking several other caravans to get explosives.

Unfortunately for the raiders, good things aren't meant to last. The diggers tunneled their way into a subterranean giant ant hive. Displeased with the intrusion, the ants managed to eat seven diggers before the raiders pushed the monstrosities back and managed to seal the entrances. The plans were put on hold while the leader scrambled to find a way to poison the monsters and keep digging towards Vault 101, lest he be shot by his own men.

Of course, then came the Lone Wanderer...

Layout
The school is effectively the tutorial dungeon and an introduction to the depravity of the raiders infesting the wasteland. The main building can be entered through the front doors or through the collapsed section, which also leads into the lower level.

Interior
The interior is divided into two floors. The ground floor is mostly collapsed, with the majority of rooms inaccessible. Those that are include the grisly foyer (with a cage used for keeping slaves captured by raiders), a pair of restrooms, a small cafeteria, and a storage room. These contain only minor loot.

The upper level is more interesting. The central area is the library (unlocked with the Springvale library key carried by one of the goons or lockpicked), though the primary area of interest is the eastern corridor, which contains a terminal with the mining log and an Explosives skill book on the desk.

Notable loot

 * Duck and Cover!: Next to the terminal with the mining log.
 * Nuka-Cola Quantum: On the cage in the foyer.
 * Sheet music book: South-eastern classroom on the ground floor, on the teacher's desk.

Lower level
The utility tunnels running below the school are partially collapsed, though overall in good condition considering the general state of the derelict building. There is a store room on the perimeter and another locked utility chamber with a collapsed floor leading directly into the tunnel.

The tunnel is fairly long and connects to two larger underground chambers guarded by very annoyed giant ants which will politely show just how much they are annoyed (by politely gnawing the player's legs off). The door to the tunnel is locked (Very Hard (100)), with the key carried by the raider leader (look for a man with a mongrel).

Notable loot

 * Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual: Near the assault rifle in the tunnel, the player may have to move the dead wastelanders around to access it.

Enclave outpost
Northeast of the school, near the ruined building, a small Enclave field research team will set up shop to study the local wildlife. Due to the low priority of the research, the camp is staffed by a single Enclave officer with a number of recruits with low grade weapons, for training.

With Broken Steel installed, once the add-on begins after Take It Back!, the officer will be found shooting their own men.

Inhabitants
The current raider leader has at least ten men under his command and is usually accompanied by a mongrel. After The Waters of Life, there will be a small unit of Enclave operating near the derelict office building to the north.

Bugs

 * Like many other locations, the interior space is misaligned with the worldmap. The main entrance, located on the western side of the building, is aligned with the southern edge of the interior, and so on, and so forth.
 * With Point Lookout installed and The Dark Heart of Blackhall active, if the player agrees to destroy the Krivbeknih, the quest marker will erroneously point to the School.

Appearances
The Springvale School only appears in Fallout 3.