Francis (Fallout 2)

Francis was a super mutant that lived in Broken Hills around 2241. The Fallout 2 endings show that the residents of Broken Hills gradually went their separate ways after the Enclave base was destroyed. The timeline does not mention this.

Francis, in the Broken Hills bar, will challenge the player to an arm wrestling duel if the player's strength is 8 or more. If you lose, you'll wake up in the possession of a Ball Gag. If you win, Francis gives you a Power Fist and you gain 350 xp. The player's strength and endurance must be 9 each to have a good chance of winning.

Francis is involved in a storyline related to the Broken Hills quest Find the missing people for Marcus. There are other such storylines not entered into the Pipboy, scattered around Fallout 2. They almost always involve a single person or event. This one, however, is complex and relatively well hidden. It starts when the player discovers a note on the corpses in the secret tunnel system under Broken Hills. 'Use' the document to reveal a conspiracy between Francis and the mine manager Zaius to frame the anti-mutant faction in the town, (themselves conspirators with a plot that features in Break Manson and Franc out of prison and leads to -another- storyline, where the player exposes their plot to Marcus) for the deaths of the townspeople. Confront Zaius, and he defends his actions, fingering Francis as the instigator of the plot. Confront Francis, and among other options, he will go into exile, leaving town for good. The player may wish to conclude arm-wrestling business before banishing.

Losing at arm wrestling to Francis is not good. What happens after losing at arm wrestling, with Francis, is far worse. Players can't be blamed for wanting to see what a ball gag looks like in inventory, but it can't hurt to save first, especially if you want to see what the Power Fist he gives you for winning looks like in your inventory.

He has two Buffouts in his inventory, either use them on yourself, or for an even better effect, use them on him and wait 6 hours. Only don't save and reload after you've dosed him; the game forgets NPC drug effects after reloading, or even switching zones.

Development
Originally, Francis was supposed to be present on the PMV Valdez, as a tanker vagrant and gimp-taking legend.

Appearances in games
Francis appears only in Fallout 2.