Episode Summaries

#### Episode 1: The Freelancers

Mr. Olster asks Julien Ortega to be willing to kill the other party members should the need arise, and she reluctantly agrees. They join the Freelancers for an initial mission briefing. Olster tells them the recently deceased Marvin Delroy put this mission in his will. The group was meant to go down to Columbus to make contact with a meteorologist, Cortlandt, who believed the encroaching Midwest winter might not be natural. Unfortunately, Cortlandt had been captured by a local band of raiders, the Dopple Soldiers, and the Freelancers, Olster says, are being tasked with recovering him.

After several questions from the group and a company-mandated icebreaker question, the Freelancers set off for Columbus. They pass through the remnant of The Arb, a once advanced settlement razed by the Brotherhood of Steel for its skill in robotics. While there, Dr. Jerry Fletcher heals a man who sustained injuries in the attack while the others scavenge.

When the Freelancers reached the Ohio-Michigan border, they encounter an eyebot playing Brotherhood of Steel propaganda. Julien and Pip hack it to play easy listening music instead. A nearby raiding group, the Bluecoats, take this opportunity to attack the Freelancers, but are quickly routed. As the Freelancers recover from the attack, they are approached by a large Brotherhood of Steel force led by a man in red power armor.

#### Episode 2: Off to the Races

The Freelancers are confronted by Head Paladin Abercorn and a dozen or so initiates. They are holding Dale and the other Bluecoat who had escaped the fight prisoner. Abercorn asks if the party needs any assistance, and then asks for their opinion on what to do with the prisoners. Frankie thinks they should let the prisoners go, while Dr. Fletcher and Tabitha lean towards killing them. Julien suggests as a compromise they let the men go after stripping them of their weapons and outer clothing and leaving them defenseless and harmless in the snow.

The party then crosses into the Toledo area, and Julien has a conversation with Frankie about the way he negotiated with the Bluecoats while the rest of the party goes off to scavenge. They come to an understanding, but Dr. Fletcher lashes out at Frankie, blaming him for not standing up to the bandits.

Eventually, they arrive in the town of Findlay, where Buster knows of a leftover cache of chocolate from before the war. The party is enjoying the chocolate when they are discovered by Steve Stephenson, who is riding a horse. The party (especially Picks) are intrigued by the horse, and they learn that the people of Finley have returned after a bizarre journey to Kentucky to buy horses from Vault 52. Steve says they are holding a horserace today, and Frankie offers to do a sound-off with his trumpet. He impresses the townsfolk with his trumpeting skills.

Dr. Fletcher learns that the town has a scientist, and offers to help her learn how to breed horses to try to get information about Columbus. Margie and Picks accompany him to visit the scientist, Julieta Rumsfeld. He explains the principles of animal husbandry and breeding to her, but when he wants to ask her questions, Margie refuses to leave them. Jerry flirts with Julieta to get her to take him into her office, where he asks about the location of a man named Rhadamanthus. Rumsfeld doesn't know who that is.

After the race, Jerry and Frankie have a heated argument over their respective approaches to conflict in the wasteland, but finally agree to stay out of each other's way for the remainder of the trip.