Out of the Blue

Out of the Blue is a main quest

Detailed walkthrough
Upon finding Paladin Rahmani, she is talking with Art Knapp from before, who is concerned about the missing people himself as his niece Cassie has disappeared after setting out with the Blue Ridge Caravan Company to come to Appalachia, but the caravan says she never came with them to Appalachia. Revealing the encounter with the Hellcat mercenaries raises Rahmani's suspicions, however, if Riding Shotgun has been completed previously, an option regarding that can be used in conversation with Rahmani, who is relieved to know that if the Vault Dweller has had dealing with the Blue Ridge previously, it would be a valuable step in getting answers to what's going on. She's also tried talking to them about a trade deal for supplies, but they have remained unwilling to cooperate with her. All the evidence collected so far convinces Rahmani that the caravan has an ulterior motive she wants to uncover if there is a conspiracy afoot. Rahmani decides to join the Vault Dweller on visiting the Blue Ridge's office at Big Bend Tunnel West to find out what is really going on, but advises to avoid revealing they are Brotherhood or the caravan will clam up and not spill anything.

Once at the west end of Big Bend Tunnel, head into the office located just inside and to the left of the gate across the railroad tracks. Inside, Rahmani is at the counter in civilian clothes. Entering wearing power armor and speaking to her in it will cause her to nearly blow the cover, and provide an extra conversation option about it, but coming in without it will maintain the ruse. When Rahmani offers to get the Vault Dweller a drink, an option to flirt with her is available. Afterwards, sit down on the stool next to Rahmani, and the bartender, Herschel Klein, will strike up conversation with the Vault Dweller. Ask for whiskey, Nuka-Cola, a Pickaxe Pilsner, or with a low Intelligence SPECIAL check, a Nukashine. After Rahmani asks for hers, she can be asked a few questions out of earshot of Herschel about the Brotherhood, such as Knight Connors, Shin, and Rahmani's reasons for joining the Brotherhood, revealing she used to serve in the National Guard before the Great War, and realized that the Elders sent her to Appalachia as she proved a threat to their plans. After asking a couple of questions, Rahmani suggests a toast, it can be to Rahmani herself, Shin, Connors, or the Brotherhood overall. Once done, Rahmani and the player head upstairs to meet with Joanna Mayfield, the head honcho of the Blue Ridge Caravan Company.

Mayfield immediately reveals she's on to Rahmani's ruse, and with the cover blown, the player can engage Mayfield in conversation, who recognizes them if they had done Riding Shotgun previously. Mayfield explains that she was trying to solve the mystery internally, but with the evidence Rahmani and the player present to her, Mayfield wants concrete evidence pinning her business on what's going on before she'll cooperate with the Brotherhood. Nevertheless, Mayfield wants to help solve the mystery to protect lives and recover those that went missing alive, and summons Aries in to speak with Rahmani and the player. Rahmani suspects trouble, but an option regarding Riding Shotgun can be used to put her at ease before Mayfield assigns Aries to take Rahmani and the player to Harpers Ferry tunnel to check out the Blue Ridge camp there. Aries can be inquired further about it, and learning of so many people going missing there infuriates Rahmani, while Mayfield admits that was her mistake, while Aries also reveals there is a gas line under the tunnel, making transport through there easy under risk of igniting the gas with a stray shot, at least until recently. With Aries leading them to the tunnel, Mayfield makes it clear further conversation with her is restricted until the mystery is solved, and Rahmani warns her that once this is solved, she will be revisiting the Blue Ridge's part in all this, which Mayfield agrees to once everything is settled and the missing are recovered.

Head over to the tunnel by crossing the tressle from Harpers Ferry itself, and enter the tunnel. Inside, Paladin Rahmani is waiting, still in her civvie clothes, and mentions that Aries went further ahead, though she still has concerns and suspicions about him. Asking about it reveals that she's dealt with things like this before, that's why she has the alarm bells going off about Blue Ridge. Once conversation is finished, Rahmani warns to keep guns at the ready, as she saw some feral ghouls earlier. Fight past a couple of them to find Aries in a side room. He mentions there's a room up ahead, and opens a secret passage using the nearby calendar to do so. Rahmani warns him she's watching him, and Aries assures her that he fully understands why he is being watched carefully as they proceed further in. A few more strangler feral ghouls are found as the rooms are navigated, from the break room into the generator room, where Aries works to open the door to the camp once it is clear. Unfortunately, he can't open the door, and the other passageways are clogged with strangler vines. Speaking with him reveals this is the gas pipeline he mentioned earlier, a result of the Bysshe Company, but the door is on lockdown due to a fake gas leak alarm he triggered previously, and the security needs to be overridden to lift the lockdown, but the pump room where it can be done is past the strangler vines. Luckily, he remembers some engineers that could deal with them as they were down in the tunnels for several years after the Great War occurred, so they probably left some information behind to help deal with the strangler vines.

Head up the stairs and into the next room. Rahmani spots what they need behind a mag-locked door, but they need to find the means to unlock it. Several notes around the room indicate a password by the name of "Open Sesame Seed" and converting it into numbers. A nearby chalkboard shows the conversion of the letters to numbers, and there are three password panels, indicating each word of "Open Sesame Seed" goes into one of the password panels to unlock the door.

Once the numbers are entered, press the button next to them. If the right combinations were entered, the doors will open. Rahmani will investigate the case, and find it contains a potent herbicide against the strangler vines. She also realizes that they intended to disperse it in the water system to poison the strangler vines at their roots. With this knowledge, she suggests to the player to find a spot where the herbicide can be inserted into the water system to kill the strangler vines there. Head into the larger room seen through the windows via the double doors at the end of the room, and make your way down to the ground floor. Rahmani will soon spot where they need to place the herbicide and head over to it. Meet up and speak with her, and she warns that as soon as the herbicide is inserted, expect the alarm to be raised and security to arrive to deal with it. Just as she thought, once the herbicide is inserted, the alarm goes off, and feral ghouls rush in to attack. There are four waves in all, and expect a legendary feral ghoul or two in them before Rahmani is finished. Once she is done, head back to regroup with Aries and take out the strangler vines blocking the way to the pump room. Once they are gone, proceed into the next room, only to hear a strange bleating sound, making Rahmani uneasy. Keep slicing apart strangler vines until you get closer to the pump room and reach the terminal needed to override the lockdown. However, the scan indicates a hostile robot entity is preventing the lockdown from being lifted, which puzzles Rahmani. She suggests remaining on alert for it. The robot is revealed to be an Imposter Sheepsquatch Assaultron, the source of the bleating earlier, or in this case, a Sheepsquatch Imposterling. It is just as tough as the one from Encryptid, but doesn't sport the cloak or anti-armor bonuses. Once it is killed, Rahmani has some interesting banter about it before suggesting it should be safe to lift the lockdown now. Head back to the terminal and run the scan again. This time it reads all-clear and lifts the lockdown. Head back to Aries, where Rahmani blows her stack at him regarding what they dealt with, and Aries is concerned about the mention of the Sheepsquatch Imposterling, but Rahmani demands the door opened now. Aries complies and opens the door, and assures that if there's anymore problems, Rahmani can shoot him in the back later.

Proceed into the camp and look for three notes scattered around the area. Once they've been collected, talk to Rahmani and give her the notes. She looks them over and recognizes one of the names before asking to speak with the player. If the player studied the notes carefully, it should be easy to provide the answers for each thing discussed with Rahmani.


 * They had to set up camp in the tunnel because of a radstorm.
 * They were also attacked by heavily armed mercenaries.
 * Edgar Blackburn is one of the members in several caravans on the manifest.

The second one convinces Rahmani it had to be the Hellcat mercenaries, just like with Sheena and Burke when helping Marcia, and seeing Blackburn in several groups convinces her that he must have hired the Hellcat mercenaries before asking about what he came to the Brotherhood for earlier, which was help with his research into helping humanity. All this evidence proves to Rahmani that he kidnapped the group when they were pinned down by the radstorm, and had the Hellcat mercenaries handle the muscle with rounding them up to use in his experiments. Now knowing it was Blackburn's fault, Rahmani needs to track him down so they can deal with him for good, but first needs to deliver the information back to Fort Atlas, completing the quest and leading into A Satisfied Conscience. Rahmani also apologies to Aries, and he assures her all's good, though when he then mentions a reward in the form of some of the Hellstorm missile launchers, Rahmani refuses.

Rewards

 * Plan: Brotherhood civvies

Behind the scenes
While quest designer Carl McKevitt was responsible for this quest, he pointed out that is was a collaborative team effort, and that the team was "crucial in nailing the writing, especially for Rahmani."