The hunter represents the player character
Location – New Orleans
The hunter is standing on the Horace Wilkson Bridge flipping a bottle cap. He had been sent up north to an old military instillation, which is in the plains wastelands, to find a piece of pre-war technology to open the Mysterious Vault. The Mysterious Vault was not made by Vault-tec, therefore, no one knows what is inside it. The legends that are told say that a lot of old world treasures are stored there. Those treasures are said to be precious metals, jewels, and items that could set person up for a life time.
The hunter sees his caravan in the distance coming his way. As the caravan reaches the hunter, the sun begins to set. Jeremiah, the caravan leader, says, “We got your radio message telling us that you found the item.” The key that opens the vault has nine pieces. The hunter had been sent to find one of those pieces and that was what he had found. The hunter gave the piece of the key to Jeremiah who put it on one of the brahmin.
They hear the hissing of Chinese stealth suits destealthing revealing marauders with pristine military armaments. The leader of the marauders demands that Jeremiah hand over the caravan’s part of the key. Both the hunter and the members of the caravan go for their guns to protect their property and begin shooting. The marauders open fire and begin lobbing grenades onto the bridge. The explosions from the grenades causes the old bridge to crack and crumble, dropping the hunter and Jeremiah into the Mississippi River. When the hunter hits the water he is knocked out and the key is left on the brahmin allowing the marauders to take it. The hunter and Jeremiah are separated and are swept downstream towards New Orleans.
The hunter is pulled ashore by some locals and they attend to his medical needs. The people who are taking care of the hunter had to dispose of all of his gear. The Mississippi River was irradiated by the Great War and with the damage caused in the plains wasteland the Hunter’s gear was damaged beyond repair.
When the hunter regains consciousness, the player takes over the character and must be shown the mechanics of the game, such as, shooting a gun. This is done through newbie quests and the PC is rewarded with basic gear.
There are four warring families in New Orleans and each one has its own territory. The four families are, the Castoffs, the Le Moynes, the Butlers, and the Acadiens. The Castoffs are the family made up of people not from New Orleans but who came in from the Gulf wastelands and carved out an area for themselves. The Le Moynes are the descendants of the French of old New Orleans, the Butlers are the old world Americans, and the Acadiens are the descendants of the Cajuns from the Bayou.
The people who rescued the PC are aligned with the Castoff family. In order to repay them for their kindness, the PC will be following a quest which will have him delivering goods to the Castoff territory. (This in no way changes his neutrality with the four families.) The goods consist of creeper pelts and meat. A creeper is a mutated alligator which is hunted for supplies for the Castoff family. The PC is still downstream from the Horace Wilkson Bridge.
The first main quest is for the PC to go back to the bridge to get information about the attack. He heads back up the Mississippi to where the attack took place. Everyone in the caravan is dead. The corpses, including the brahmins, are left where they fell. The PC checks the packs that were on the brahmin finding nothing was taken except the key. This allows the PC to have some basic supplies, such as, food and stimpaks. The PC gazes downstream toward New Orleans and knows he will have many adventures trying to find the key and his friend, Jeremiah.