Fallout 3, Bethesda’s first game with the series, was met with much acclaim, with critics praising its vast world and open-ended gameplay. It’s in these features that the developers were able to create all sorts of unique set pieces that the player might find during their exploration of the Capital Wasteland. One of the most memorable is the location known as Dunwich Building.

The Dunwich Building is a dilapidated office building found in the southwest corner of the Fallout 3 map. Players who choose to explore this ruin will find that it’s much more than a pre-war building. In the very depths of Dunwich Building is an unknown power far beyond human comprehension.

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The Dunwich Horrors of Fallout 3

Dunwich Building in Fallout 3

The Dunwich Building is made up of three distinct levels, each requiring the player to venture deeper into the earth. Multiple hostile feral ghouls roam the floors, and as the player explores these areas, they’ll find multiple audio logs left by a man named Jaime.

The first two levels — the lobby and the forsaken ruins — are relatively normal office interiors with entire floors demolished. The first few audio logs are in the lobby area. These reveal that Jaime was traveling to the Capital wasteland to look for his dad, who he described as “a little nuts.” After some traveling, Jaime eventually picks up on his father’s trail. The man was reportedly heading south with “the goddamn book.” This led Jaime to Dunwich Building, whom the player will also find should they continue into its depths.

When the player enters the forsaken ruins section, they’ll experience a hallucination consisting of a flashback to the pre-war time. The player will see a man in pre-war clothing, and when the hallucination ends, a glowing feral ghoul takes the place of the man. Aside from this, paranormal events also occur in the building, with items moving on their own and far-off footsteps sounding in the distance when the player is inside.

There’s also another audio log in this area. This time, it details how Jaime found his father, who had then become a ghoul. Interestingly enough, Jaime doesn’t seem to know what ghouls are despite having traveled the wasteland. Regardless, Jaime comments that “it’s warm against the stone,” and his voice abruptly changes to a gravelly tone, suggesting that he became a ghoul himself.

Next to this audio log is a terminal with a special program that automatically transcribes recorded speech to text. While it contains pre-war transcriptions, it’s the recent ones that are more interesting. These capture the ramblings of a person as they speak of their melting skin, temples, and a being known as Ug-Qualtoth and its return. The terminal also picks up on the sound of paper crumpling and the person wanting to “keep it clean,” hinting that the person is likely Jaime’s father, with the book.

Upon entering the deepest level of the Dunwich Building, known as the virulent underchambers, the player will find Jaime’s final audio log, which is nothing but mad ramblings. A ghoulified Jaime speaks of, again, temples, feasts, and the return of a man named Abdul. He also says “Alhazred,” a word echoed by an eerie voice within the chamber.

Continuing deeper will reveal a stark change in architecture, with the grimy pre-war office walls leading to a cave system. The short cave system will lead the player to a strange obelisk with tendrils circling its base and a humanoid figure seemingly trying to escape from the stone material. This is also where the player will find Jaime, now a hostile ghoul, along with other feral ghouls.

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The Dark Heart of Blackhall and Its Connections to Dunwich

fallout 3 dunwich building obelisk underneath the building

The full context behind the Dunwich Building is only ever revealed upon the release of the Point Lookout DLC. This allows players to accept a quest from Obadiah Blackhall, who is looking for someone to take a book that was stolen from him. Should the player accept his quest, another person named Marcella will stop them when they leave the Blackhall Manor, stating that they shouldn’t give the book back to Blackhall.

Now, the player must find the book — known in-game as the Krivbeknih — then choose to give it to either Blackhall or Marcella. The book can be found in a ritual site put up by the swampfolk. Here, the player will find a mutilated body with the unique bladed weapon known as the Ritual Knife thrust through its head. Behind the table is a pedestal with the Krivbeknih. Taking it will cause more swampfolk to storm into the ritual site.

Should the player give the book to Blackhall, the quest will be completed. Blackhall will go to the basement of his home, where he will kneel before an altar with the headless corpse of a swampfolk man and pray. Nothing else occurs within the game. However, if the player opts to give the book to Marcella, they’ll find that she’s been killed in her camp by Blackhall’s hired thugs. Though the player will find an audio log that Marcella left for them.

In the audio log, Marcella will explain that the Krivbeknih can be destroyed if the player takes it to the obelisk underneath Dunwich Building, which she describes as “a wicked thing.” The player must then journey to Dunwich Building, where they will be prompted to press the book against the strange obelisk. Doing this will cause the book to burst into flames, destroying it.

This quest gives players more context on what’s truly going on beneath the Dunwich Building. Though it’s unclear why pressing the book to the obelisk leads to its destruction, both artifacts are undoubtedly connected to supernatural entities — most likely Ug-Qualtoth. It’s also unclear whether the book that Jaime’s father had and the Krivbeknih are the same. If they are, how did it end up in Point Lookout after Jaime’s father had it in its possession? Is the book able to travel on its own without human intervention?

Finally, cut content from Obadiah’s quest reveals that one of his ancestors was related to a man named Richard Dunwich — the founder of Dunwich Borers LLC. It’s also revealed that these ancestors were very much interested in the occult, meaning that the Blackhall and Dunwich families are likely long-time worshippers of Ug-Qualtoth. This is substantiated further by the events surrounding the Dunwich Borers of Fallout 4.

Given all this, it seems the Dunwich Borers LLC was a company that Dunwich used to further his exploration into the occult. Whether his employees were aware of this is unknown, but many in the community speculate that Dunwich might make a return in the next Fallout game.

Fallout 3 is available now on PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.

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