Fast-travel to Boston Commons and, once there, what you want to do is talk to the Tour Bot east of Swan’s Pond. Ask him about the “Freedom Trail” to learn a bit and, more importantly, be told that you can follow the red line to follow the trail! Well then, that is handy! Note that there is also a sign where the red line starts that says “At Journey’s End Follow Freedom’s Lantern”. There is also a “Freedom Trail Marker” at the very start that says 7A. Some kind of code? Yes, yes it is. Good to know, right? The Tour Bot also has some history on this place if you want to talk to him again.

Your goal now is to “Continue following the Freedom Trail”, so let’s follow the red line north. It will start out with you going to the north and wrapping around to the west. Continue to follow it west past the rubble and when it looks like it falls off, head across the street to pick it up again. You will pass in front of the “Massachusetts State House” location and, in front of it, look down for a “Freedom Trail Marker”. Examine it to see that it says 4L.

Continue following the trail across the street to the south-east, past a ruined car and down a sidewalk. Follow it as it turns a corner, going from mostly south-east to north, north-east and keep your eyes on the ground to spot the third “Freedom Trail Marker” between some stairs leading to the nearby “Old Granary Burying Ground” and a bus. This one gives you the code 2A.

Continue to the north and soon there will be a ton of junk in the way. At the corner though, you’ll see the line crossing the street but more importantly to the northwest is a Super Mutant stronghold. You can either wipe them out or sneak by if you wish - there are only a handful of Super Mutants, and the loot you’ll find is a Steamer Trunk on the top floor. Once the muties are dead, get back to the freedom trail. The red line that crosses the street actually continues north still but on the right-hand side, and mostly obscured by rubble for a while. Continue north-east on the rubble-strewn alley between the Super Mutant stronghold and when the sidewalk appears again, follow the trail south-east, then east across a road, where you’ll find another Freedom Trail Marker near a street light. The code this one gives you is 6O. Make sure to head south from here to find a blue door leading to Goodneighbor, a community in the depths of the ruins that’ll be worth exploring soon. Enter the area, discover it, then immediately leave; save yourself the trouble of finding it againn without starting anything important there.

Old Corner Bookstore¶

Continue to the north and watch out for Mongrels as you go (they like to hang out over here) then continue uphill and drop off a bus, which contains the rubble to the south. To the right you’ll find the “Old Corner Bookstore” here in front of which you’ll find the fifth “Freedom Trail Marker” with the code 3I. Since you are here you might as well explore the Old Corner Bookstore, even though there’s not much of interest inside.

Head inside to see that this bookstore is just… demolished. There are a few goodies to be had here: behind the counter is a Caps Stash, the notes “Help Wanted” and “Racetrack Advertisement”, a Bobby Pin Box and a Nuka Cola Quantum in a bucket. There is also an upper level here that you can get to from the stairs on the left (or the junk on the right) where you can find a first aid kit in the back. And that is it for this bookstore, so head back out.

Haymarket Mall¶

Take a break from the trail for now and explore another optional area by heading north from the Old Corner Bookstore, where you’ll find the Raider-occupied “Haymarket Mall”. Kill the grenade-happy Raiders, who will man the tops of barricades and also rush out at you on ground level, then head into the building.

This building, as one might expect, is absolutely lousy with Raiders, mostly to the south on the upper floor. In their ranks you can expect to find one with a Missile Launcher, which complicates things somewhat. If you want some extra support, head east from the entrance to find a small room with a Security Terminal [Advanced], which you can use to activate some turrets in the lobby, as well as some nearby Protectrons. However you manage it, loot one of the Raiders for a Haymarket Mall Key. Once that’s yours, loot an upstairs room in the north-eastern corner of the building to find a floor Safe [Expert] then continue to the southern end of the building to find some stairs, which you should ascend to find a Duffle Bag near a skeleton.

There are two places left to explore here; the roof, and the basement. Let’s go to the top, first, then head into the basement. Find an elevator on the western side of the upper level and ride it to the top, where some Raiders will engage in a losing battle with some Protectrons and Turrets. This time, the machines aren’t friendly to you, so be sure to wipe them out. They - and the Raiders - can be found in an office room to the east (previously two rooms, but time makes fools of us all), which can be reached via a locked door [Novice] or by heading down a hallway to the north. You can activate the “Office Terminal” - an unusually large computer for this function - which allows you to control the Protectrons and Turrets. To the east you’ll find a smaller office room which contains a Safe [Expert]. After you plunder its contents, head into the northern-most of the conjoined office rooms to the south and ascend a rubble ramp to reach the roof. Save your game before heading up here, though, as a most fearsome foe awaits…

Garden Terrace¶

Atop the roof of the Haymarket Mall lies the remains of a rooftop garden that was, perhaps, once beautiful. As beautiful as such an urban garden next to an elevated highway can be, anyways. Of more concern, however, is the current occupant of this little slice of nature amidst urban sprawl; a leveled Deathclaw. Sneak attacks, critical hits… you know the drill. Or you can just come back in Power Armor, should you need the extra defense. Once it’s dead, loot a small building to the north-east to find a Steamer Trunk, then go down an elevator to reach a floor with a Safe [Advanced]. If that’s not quite enough loot for your trouble, head down the nearby fire escape and bravely cross some wooden planks to reach a still-suspended railway car, then proceed to the north-western end of the cars (killing a still-vigilant Protectron as you go) to find a second Steamer Trunk.

Congress Street Station¶

Return inside the Haymarket Mall and take the elevator back down to the lobby, head downstairs, go through a doorway to the east then turn south to find a locked door [Expert] leading to the Congress Street Station. Once outside in the parking garage, head south down a ramp (ignore the Super Mutants outside to the east - their time will come) and take an elevator up. From the elevator head east across a broken floor to reach a door leading to the Commonwealth Bank.

The place is surprisingly unoccupied, but there’s a bit to loot. In an office to the south you’ll find a Safe [Novice] and behind a counter to the north you’ll find a Terminal [Expert] which opens the nearby Security Door, beyond which you’ll find a good deal of Pre-War Money and two Safes [Advanced] and [Expert]. Next, continue through a doorway to the east, past some elevators, then turn north and pass a stairwell before finally turning west to find a door [Advanced], which just leads to a bathroom that only has a First Aid Box inside. You can now take the elevators down to surprise some Raiders, but this takes you further south and east than you need to go, so instead head back into - and through - Haymarket Mall and return to the Old Corner Bookstore.

Mass Fusion Building¶

From the Old Corner Bookstore head west through some rubble to find the Mass Fusion Building (be wary of Frag Mines as you go!), outside of which you’ll find several Gunners. Take them out, then head inside the building where you’ll find a few more Gunners. Yay… another massive building crawling with Gunners, as if you hadn’t had enough of that after HalluciGen. Don’t worry, though, the loot in here is much, much better. Head up some stairs and turn north to reach a series of small rooms, in the western-most of which you’ll find a Security Terminal [Advanced], which you can use to get more Protectrons and Turrets on your side. To the east you can find a locked elevator which requires a Mass Fusion ID Card to use, which won’t happen until you come here later in the game.

Just as well, the loot you came here for doesn’t require you to use that elevator. Make your way to the southern end of the area to find three doors, only the western-most of which leads anywhere. Disarm some Can Chimes, head down some stairs, then loot a small supply room to the east [Novice]. To the west is a more interesting room, where one of the few Gunners on the ground floor may have lurked. Inside this room you’ll find a Duffle Bag and a Wall Safe [Expert].

You’ve not done all you can on the ground floor, so head up some stairs to the east to reach the upper level, where many, many more Gunners patrol the walkways. The more Gunners you can take out sneakily, with a long-ranged suppressed weapon, the better. Make your way north through a doorway then past a room to the east, which is uninteresting save for a rigged weapon. Continue up some stairs to find another room, making sure to disarm a Bathroom Scale rigged to a Tesla Arc. You can loot a small room to the east [Novice] which contains little of value, but to continue on, head through a doorway to the south, after looting some ammo near and within an Ammo Box.

Head south across the level and enter a bathroom, which has a grenade trapped rigged up in the closed stall. Venture through a hole in the wall to the east, then head up a ramp to reach a room with a “Records Terminal” in it with some creepy office correspondence. Go through a doorway to the north, then into another room to the east where you’ll find some more Gunners in need of shooting. Indulge them, then make your way west through one small room and into another one, the latter of which is ringed with massive computers. Despite the impressive name, the “Mainframe Control Terminal” only has the other side of the emails you may have read on the “Records Terminal”. After reading the pre-war drama, head down a ramp to find a Duffle Bag and a First Aid Box in a bathroom.

Return back up the ramp, head into the room to the east, then go through a doorway to the south and up another ramp. Continue south into another room with a few Gunners in it, then ascend yet another ramp to the east to reach the floor upon which the Gunner Commander resides, on the northern end of the level. You can reach this end of the level by heading west, though a door leading to the “Mass Fusion Balcony”, then through another door to the north, or you can just head along the intact floor on the eastern end of the building. Either way, kill this Power Armor-clad brute and loot their office along the northern end of the level, where you’ll find a Trunk full of goodies, a Mini Nuke, an Ammo Box and a Wall Safe [Master]. The real prize, however, is in the chamber to the south. Along the eastern end of the level you’ll find a counter. From here head west, over a green couch, and look down into the lobby. On the head or a statue over-looking the lobby you should find the Strength Bobblehead , awaiting a worthy new owner. That’s you, by the way. Once you’ve made the Bobblehead yours, head south, ride an elevator to the ground floor, then exit the building.

The Boston Bugle¶

If you head north from the Mass Fusion Building you’ll find The Boston Bugle. A quest will take you here later, but it’s not a bad idea to discover the place real quick. If you want to explore it… well, there’s not much to see right now. Take an elevator to the third floor and search a counter to the east to find a Nuka Cherry, kill a Protectron guarding the place, then head to the western end of the second floor to find a door leading to an exposed exterior room, where you can find a floor Safe [Novice].

Faneuil Hall¶

Enough extra exploration, it’s time to return to the Freedom Trail. Return to the Old Corner Bookstore and from here follow the red line as it heads east. You’ll head up some stairs where you may find some Feral Ghouls to kill. This upper area has a food stand on the right (Pre-War Money in the register) but follow the line down the stairs to the east. This goes across the street to the “Faneuil Hall” location. In front of the destroyed statue is another “Freedom Trail Marker” which has the code 5R. Examining this Freedom Trail Marker will be complicated a bit by the Super Mutants who patrol the front, north, and rear of the building. After they’re dead and you’ve found the sixth piece of code, head on through the front doors into Faneuil Hall.

As soon as you enter, search under a table between the front doors to find the note “Jamaica Plain Flyer”, which starts a quest to “find the treasures of the Jamaica plain”. There’s no rush to get started on this. Head down the stairs and disarm the Can Chimes and kill the few Super Mutants residing in this part of the building. When the coast is clear, head into a room in the north-western corner of the building [Novice] to find two Cash Registers. Not really a great reward for picking a lock, especially considering there are many more outside in the main lobby. Head up some stairs to the east (be wary of the Tripwire in front of the approach to the northern stairs!), then immediately head up another flight of stairs to the west and go through a doorway, where many more muties lurk, both on this floor and along the balcony above.

Dispose of them by whatever means suit you best (sneaking and picking them off with a suppressed gun remains a viable option) then get to looting. In the bathroom to the north you can find a grenade trap waiting for you in a closed bathroom stall - a rather common form of trap these days. In the large, previously-occupied room to the west you’ll find a Duffle Bag near a stand upon which a podium rests, and near the podium itself you’ll find some ammo in and within an Ammo Box. Head up some stairs in the north-western or south-western corner of the room, then follow the balcony east into the smaller eastern room with the staircases you ascended earlier. Head into small room to the north which contains a Duffle Bag and some chems.

Head up some more stairs to the south, disarm a Tripwire on the first landing, then head west up some more stairs and through a door. Enter a small room with a couch in it and grab an issue of Live & Love on a small table nearby. In the next room to the west you’ll need to dispatch another Super Mutant and its pet, then continue west to find a Steamer Trunk with some goodies inside. Loot it, then turn south to find a ladder leading to the roof. Follow some platforms, then go up a ramp to reach the collapsed gilded tower top, where you’ll find the Gilded Grasshopper. This starts the quest “The Gilded Grasshopper” , and adds the note “Food for the Grasshopper”, which directs you to find Shem Drowne’s grave. There’s no rush to go complete this quest, either.

Finishing the Freedom Trail¶

Back to the Freedom Trail. Head back to the front of Faneuil Hall and follow the trail as it zig-zags before running east along the southern side of Faneuil Hall. There is an [Advanced] door locked on your right as you go, but ignore it for now, as it just leads to the Raider camp outside of the Commonwealth Bank. Continue following the trail and it will turn north along the eastern end of Fanueil Hall, running into a giant collapsed billboard and disappearing behind it. Head across the street to the north to pick the trail up again, as it runs east along an intact traffic light. Continue following it as it runs east, then north, occasionally vanishing under rubble to reappear again. Along the way you may run into a Super Mutant and his Mongrels as you head up on the right, so beware. Exterminate them and examine the sixth “Freedom Trail Marker” outside of a house to the west to get the code 8D. From here follow the trail north, then west, up some stairs and around an equestrian monument before finally reach the Old North Church, in front of which you’ll find the seventh “Freedom Trail Marker”, this one bearing the code 1R. Since you’ve looked at all of these markers, let’s recap them:

7A

4L

2A

6O

3I

5R

8D

1R

And if you put them together by number you get: R A I L R O A D. Not very creative, but you seem to have found a password at any rate. With that done, let’s enter the church already!

Old North Church¶

Another destroyed location, but you are here with a purpose at least. Note that inside the church itself there are a few Feral Ghouls that will rise up, so take them out (there are three in total - two near the entrance, one in the back).

The door you need to go down is to the right, which leads downstairs, but before going down there note that you can head up to the second level via the stairs in the back (although there is really nothing up there besides a lunchbox on the left) and in the very back you can find the door to the steeple. The steeple is a small area but does have a Caps Stash and Bobby Pin Box. Don’t try to go on the roof though… it is really too steep for you to move on properly, so just head back inside.

Head down the stairs now and you’ll end up in a lower sewer area. This area is very linear, with plenty of areas that look like they may branch out to other paths but they do not. What you can expect down here are various Ghouls dotting out path, so kill them as you go and soon you will come to a “Freedom Trail” icon, with a wire conspicuously sticking out of it. This is a puzzle, which thanks to your efforts earlier we already have the answer!

What you need to do here is to spell out the word RAILROAD with the icon. You can spin the icon Clockwise and Counter-Clockwise by inspecting the outer ring (which is admittedly hard and weird to do at times), moving to the letter you want (Start with “R” of course), and then HITTING THE BUTTON in the middle. Do that for each letter (which, again… is tedious) and the door will open up.

Save here and put on your Charisma gear. Head forward to meet the Railroad… with guns drawn on you, demanding to know who you are. You have the chance to pass an easy and then hard speech check here, so try to pass them if you can for XP (and re-load and pump up your Charisma further if you want). Eventually you’ll just need to tell them that you are following the Freedom Trail and you heard about them from Diamond City. A man named Deacon will actually vouch for you (and likely bring up our latest victories while he is at it). Finally you can tell them you want to help Synths (or fight the Institute) to be accepted and officially finish this quest. You will then be told to talk to Deacon to continue on as this quest finishes and the next Railroad Quest, “Tradecraft” , begins.