Fallout 3 Walkthrough - Stealing Independence

It's time to steal the Declaration of Independence. Sure, it's not a grand caper, now that you just have to kill a few robots to get it. It's still cool and profitable, though. You can get this quest by talking to Abraham Washington at the Capital Preservation Society in Rivet City. He'll ask you to go to the National Archives to find the Declaration, after his last aide failed to return.

Getting to the Archives is pretty simple. They should be marked on your map. Just start heading to the end of the mall. Don't go all the way to the Capitol building though, since you don't want to get caught up in the fight between Talon Company and the super mutants. You also have to stay alert and fight your way through the super mutant trenches, if you haven't already cleared them.

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Once you make it to the end, just turn down the side street and go up the steps to the National Archive. Step into the Rotunda to meet Sydney. She's the last aide and she's ready to help. Don't step on any of her mines. You can disable them if you are having trouble moving. Get over to her and she'll mention that super mutants are attacking.

About 6 leveled super mutants will attack in waves of 3. Just stay behind the sandbags for cover and take them out. There's no trick to this one. Just pray that you don't get overlords and masters, since they might have missile launchers and grenades. The sandbags can usually stop them, but it's not a guarantee.

Once you help her, she'll ask if you want her help in getting the Declaration of Independence. Allying with Sydney makes this all a whole lot easier, so do it. She also has a cool gun that I'll talk about a bit later. Keeping her along gives you a shot at it getting it.

If you get Sydney's help, she'll mention a secret elevator in the rotunda. Use her computer to unlock this elevator and head right down into a safe spot in the sub-basement. Doing this lets you avoid a lot of super mutants on your way into the building.

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If you aren't using Sydney, then you just have to walk around through the office area. You should be able to get into the sub-basement through some stairs and a back door.

You need to go forward toward the loud speaking voice. This will put you in the bunker system with a lot of leveled robots. Stay alert. It's easy to get flanked in this maze. If Sydney gets hurt, you can give her a stimpak through dialogue.

If you have 67 points in Science, you'll be able to automatically fix the utility door ahead of you. If you don't then you'll have to take the path to the left and fight a few more robots to get to the room past it.

Go forward a bit more once you're in this common room. Apparently this room has the central turret generator. I had trouble finding it and didn't see the point. I only saw 4 turrets and they were guarding the Bill of Rights and the Magna Carta. Those are non-essential, so I didn't mind a quick skirmish. If you don't see it then it doesn't matter.

Go down these stairs and through the door. The locked door on the left can be picked to give you access to a caged area. Pick the second lock to gain access to the Bill of Rights. Just blow away the turrets and gather up all the loot and ammo from the safe and the boxes. The locked door on the right should lead to the Magna Carta. It has the same setup.

The rest of this is simple. You just need to move forward through whatever doors you can open. The only big danger is that there are a ton of gas leaks. Be prepared to lose some health from the fireballs or use a melee weapon. After a walk through a few hallways, you should make it to the marked door to the Archive Strongroom. Sydney will point it out too. Save first and then head inside.