and Nadia) have joined the Brotherhood as new Initiates. After selecting which character to play as (hereafter referred to as the Initiate), the game opens with the Initiate searching for missing Paladins in the nearby town of Carbon. Minor investigation leads the Initiate to question the Mayor of the town, who demands the destruction of a radscorpion lair before he will reveal any information. Also, the Initiate gains the trust of Jesse, a trader, and Vidaya, the town doctor. Once the radscorpions are defeated, the Mayor informs the Initiate of the direction the paladins were last known to be traveling. The Initiate goes into the Crater near the town to find the Paladins. Unfortunately, the Mayor reveals himself shortly afterward to be a treacherous man and attempts to murder the Initiate using explosives. However, he only succeeds in causing a rock slide and killing himself. Blocked by the rocks, the Initiate heads back to Carbon to find it being looted by raiders, who must then be defeated. The townsfolk have holed up in the warehouse while the Initiate rescues others who didn't make it to the warehouse. When that is done, the Raider lair is discovered to be the nearby former steel mill. The Initiate (with some inventory help from Jesse) goes in and defeats the Raider Matron. While here, the Initiate meets up with the Vault Dweller (the protagonist from the original game) and get directed to look for the Paladin Rhombus in the ghoul town of Los (formerly the outskirts of Los Ybanez). The Initiate leaves for the town of Los, they meet up with Harold and many of the ghouls in the town. Paladins from a separatist faction of the Brotherhood formed a cult known as the Church of the Lost. The leader of the separatist faction, Rhombus, accompanies the Initiate on a quest to kill Blake, the leader of the cult. The Initiate moves around the town of Los killing mutants who are following Blake, and meets up with some ghoul brothers that are competing merchants. Along the way, Rhombus is captured, and the Initiate frees him after killing Blake. The Initiate discovers a key on the cult leader's body. In their haste to escape, however, Rhombus is mortally wounded by kamikaze ghouls and the Initiate must go on without him. Inquiring around the city, the Initiate learns of a nearby vault that may be held