Episode 1 – Zer0 Sum
WARNING: MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD
Rhys is a Hyperion lackey who idolizes the now-deceased Handsome Jack. Fiona is a con artist who works over anyone she can with the help of Sasha and Felix, her sister and mentor respectively. Tales from the Borderlands begins late in the game’s story, with Rhys and Fiona captured and bound by a mysterious stranger who wants to know their story. The game is told from both characters’ viewpoints as they recount their journey to the stranger, explaining how their paths crossed and how they’ve ended up where they are now.
Zer0 Sum shows Rhys expecting a promotion at Hyperion, only to be demoted to janitorial duty by his nemesis and new boss, Hugo Vasquez. Disgruntled by the unexpected turn of events, Rhys and his buddy Vaughn decide to go to Pandora to intercept a deal Vasquez has for a vault key. Assisting them from Hyperion is their friend Yvette, sending supplies and equipment and even a Loader Bot as they need it. Vaughn “procures” the necessary funds for the vault key, and the duo goes to meet up with August and Sasha, the pair with the vault key that Vasquez wants.
Just as the exchange is made, Rhys drops the vault key and unintentionally exposes it to be a fake, surprising not just he and Vaughn, but August as well. The fake key was crafted by Fiona, Sasha (who is really her little sister), and their mentor in thievery, Felix. Before anyone has time to react to the revelation of the vault key being a fabrication, Zer0 (from Borderlands 2) crashes through the wall during a battle with Bossanova – it’s essentially a boss battle you watch from the sidelines – who grabs the suitcase of money before taking off in the other direction. Felix and the girls make a hasty getaway, leaving an angry August behind in the rubble of the battle.
The trio reaches their getaway caravan to see Rhys and Vaughn attempting to steal it, and eventually the group reaches an uneasy alliance in order to track down and procure the money. Rhys tries calling Yvette back at Hyperion to see if she can track the suitcase, only to find out they’ve been blacklisted from the company and she can’t help them. After Vaughn got the caravan’s navigation tech working he was able to track Bossanova’s location; an old Atlas warehouse filled with bandits. The team sees Zer0 hack his way into the compound, and figure they have to follow suit if they want the money back.
Felix stays with the caravan in case a speedy retreat is needed, while the other four try sneaking into the warehouse. Rhys and Sasha get separated from Fiona and Vaughn, and the former two end up hacking into the warehouse’s security system. They get ambushed by a group of skags when Zer0 appears and saves them, asking the pair to let him know if they see a Gortys core. Meanwhile Fiona and Vaughn get enlisted in the evening’s death race, hosted by Bossanova. The prize for winning is the suitcase full of money. Fiona is confident Felix can open the case without Vaughn, until Vaughn mentions it will explode if improperly tampered with.
Rhys, Sasha, and Zer0 take a lift up to the rink where the race is going on, and Zer0 recommences his battle with Bossanova. The case gets tossed around a lot during the battle and race until Felix appears in the caravan and catches it. Fiona jumps onto it and hops inside, and Felix pulls a gun on her. While focusing on keeping Fiona at bay he crashes the caravan, and she gets pinned under some debris while he tries to escape. She is given the choice to warn Felix about the bomb, shoot him, or let him explode. Whatever you choose, both Felix and the money are gone.
Meanwhile, Zer0 has killed Bossanova and reports back to Moxxi, again discussing the mysterious Gortys that he is no closer to finding.
Rhys, Fiona, Vaughn, and Sasha are regrouping after the battle when Rhys falls through a pit and stumbles upon some old Atlas equipment. The other three jump down to join him, and they find a hidden passage that leads to two parts of the Gortys Core. The pieces fly together and display a giant 3D map throughout the room, when suddenly a hologram of Handsome Jack appears and says you’ve found the Gortys Project, which will lead you to a vault. And then he’ll probably kill you.
Episode 2 – Atlas Mugged
Rhys is taken aback by the sudden appearance of his former hero, who only he can see. He wanders around to a neighboring room trying to make sense of the bizarre situation as the other three just think he hit his head a bit too hard during his fall. The two pieces that make the map appear to fall apart, and Fiona, Sasha, and Vaughn look around for more clues as to what’s going on. After taking an eye from a nearby corpse to activate a computer’s retinal scan, they see a video log from Athena, who mentions the Gortys facility in Old Haven.
During this time Rhys is getting to know the newly acquired AI companion, who doesn’t quite comprehend that he’s dead, and actually just a program in Rhys’ head. The two take a few minutes to try coming to terms with what’s happening, when Rhys falls back down and rejoins the crew, Jack disappearing for the time. The team notices firepower hitting above ground from the Helios base, and Loader Bot appears to pull them all out of the pit.
They make their getaway in the caravan, avoiding the shots as a Rakk Hive starts chasing them. Using the caravan’s boost to out-manoeuvre the Rakk Hive, they lead it into taking a direct hit from the moonshots, but the hive tumbles and hits the caravan, tossing Rhys and Vaughn from it before the girls can grab them. The caravan continues boosting forward as the guys tumble into the desert.
After Rhys calls Yvette for some help, the guys wander the desert, and Jack reappears. Rhys can choose whether or not to try explaining the hologram to Vaughn, but either way they are soon tracked down by Vasquez, who orders the two to dig their own graves at gun-point. During this exchange you learn that Vasquez made a deal with Vaughn to double-cross you, though Vaughn swears he was just playing along to keep Vasquez off their back. The two soon get away, and Jack realizes he can kind of, sort of control Rhys’ robotic arm.
As Rhys and Vaughn run from Vasquez, Loader Bot swoops in and picks them up. The group earlier decided to stop at Hollow Point before heading to Old Haven, so you can choose to either meet the girls at Hollow Point and go to Old Haven together, or head straight to Old Haven and meet up there.
Upon their separation from the guys, Fiona and Sasha make their way to Hollow Point and meet Scooter, the local mechanic. He fixes up the caravan while they go to Felix’s hideout to gather supplies. They find a video left by Felix, which explains why he tried taking the money for himself in episode 1 – to spare them the wrath of Vallory, a crime boss who placed bounties on their heads. Before they leave two bounty hunters, Finch and Kroger, break in and attempt to apprehend the girls. They manage to escape to the streets, only to begin being chased by Athena as well, also looking to collect on their bounties.
The girls manage to give Athena the slip and pick up their ride from Scooter’s (the scene plays out in different ways if Rhys and Vaughn head to Hollow Point), meeting his assistant Janey Springs from the Pre-Sequel. Safe in their newly repaired caravan, Fiona and Sasha (along with Rhys and Vaughn, depending) head to Old Haven.
If the guys went straight to Old Haven they find their way into a hidden Atlas building with a big Gortys Project logo on it, and get ambushed by August and his gang. The girls arrive shortly after, but have no time to help before Vasquez shows up to join August’s posse. If the guys met up with the girls at Hollow Point first, the group is collectively ambushed by August and Vasquez both, along with their goons.
Outnumbered and outgunned, Rhys is taken away by Vasquez while August takes Fiona, leaving Vaughn and Sasha to be guarded by the lackeys. Rhys and Fiona are led to opposing sides of a chamber deep in the Gortys building, each using their specific key to activate the devices in the chamber. During their walk August tells Fiona that he tried cutting Vallory out of the deal for the vault key, which is why he’s working with Vasquez to capture you all now – to get back in Vallory’s good graces.
A barrier arises after each key is entered, separating Rhys and Fiona from their captors. Their panels move toward each other, joining in the center to form the Gortys core. Soon a handful of security drones encroach on the duo, and Rhys can choose to either let Jack control him to deactivate the bots or trust Fiona to take them out with a stun grenade. Either way, episode 2 ends there.
Episode 3 – Catch a Ride
After taking care of the security drones, Rhys and Fiona escape through a hatch beneath them and try to find their friends before Vasquez or August have a chance to kill them. They find Sasha and Vaughn attempting to escape from Vasquez, and successfully regroup. During the ensuing battle Vaughn gets hit by a stun dart, paralyzing him for much of the episode. They all hop on Loader Bot’s back and try fleeing the compound, only to be blasted down by the gang of Finch, Kroger, and their boss Vallory, who were all waiting outside.
Following Vallory’s Q&A session with Fiona, she shoots and kills Vasquez and attempts to take the Gortys orb. It is also revealed that August is her son. She almost shoots Fiona as well when Athena cuts in and pushes Vallory and her goons away. Once the crime boss and her posse have fled, Athena explains that Felix hired her to mentor Fiona and Sasha to become vault hunters, capable of defending themselves and doing whatever they must to get by.
With the Gortys orb in hand the team decides to activate it, and it opens up into a perky robot. Gortys is capable of tracking the Vault of the Traveller, which can teleport anywhere across the universe, but only once she is fully upgraded. The rest of the episode is spent hunting down her energy chassis. The ever-growing party, which now consists of Rhys, Vaughn, Fiona, Sasha, Athena, Loader Bot, and Gortys, all pile into the caravan and road trip to an Atlas terraforming facility, where Gortys says her chassis is located.
Back in the present, Rhys and Fiona are still travelling with the mysterious Stranger to an unknown destination. Fiona suspects he keeps his mask on either because he knows them, or he needs them. The stranger keeps the air of mystery for now, and Rhys continues telling their tale.
After arriving at the terraform dome, the party comes across an old man who helps them to heal Vaughn’s paralysis. He also tells them that in order to find Gortys’ upgrade they must first take down the security defenses protecting it. Rhys and Sasha go out to bring down the security wall, while Fiona and Athena venture out to obtain the upgrade. Vaughn stays behind with Loader Bot and Gortys to keep an eye on Cassius and continue recovering from his paralysis.
As Rhys and Sasha work their way toward the security station they bond and grow closer, with Rhys obviously becoming quite smitten with her. They encounter some trouble along the way, but manage to get there in the end. Meanwhile Athena trains Fiona on her way to the upgrade location, working on her aim and ability to quickly assess a dangerous situation and take appropriate action. They reach their destination and Fiona uses the eyeball obtained in episode 2 to gain entry to the establishment.
Rhys shuts down the security protocol in stereotypical just-in-the-nick-of-time fashion, allowing Fiona and Athena to grab Gortys’ energy chassis. About that moment in the present time, Fiona, Rhys, and the Stranger stumble upon the very same energy chassis, their curiosities and suspicions about him continuing to grow.
Everyone regroups back at the dome, and they learn that the old man is a former Atlas employee named Cassius LeClemaine. Athena attempts to kill him (as she made a vow to kill anyone who is or was a part of Atlas), but Fiona can choose his ultimate fate. Either way, once that is decided Brick from previous Borderlands games comes unexpectedly crashing through the dome’s glass wall, barreling Athena out the other side. Fiona also gets taken down, and when Rhys looks for a sign of her he sees Vallory firing a rocket up at the party. And the walls come tumbling down.
When the smoke clears Vallory’s gang has Rhys cornered and the rest of the team is scattered. Vaughn jumps Vallory in an attempt to distract her as Rhys and Gortys try to run away. Elsewhere, Fiona and Sasha manage to tag-team Finch and Kroger, recovering Gortys’ chassis and meeting up with the severely damaged Loader Bot. Sasha and Loader Bot go in search of Gortys, while Fiona tries to find and save Athena.
Sasha soon finds Rhys and Gortys, and a chase scene ensues between them and August, wherein Gortys receives her chassis upgrade and nearly carries the other three to safety, but getting caught on a trip wire. Vallory’s goons round them up. At the same time Fiona finds Athena battling Brick and Mordecai both, and though they put up a good fight, the girls ultimately fall to the vault hunters’ power. Brick and Mordecai take Athena to Sanctuary (where the events of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel play out), and Vallory closes in on the others once more, with Vaughn nowhere to be found.
Vallory forces Gortys to reveal the location of her next upgrade; the Hyperion base, Helios.
Episode 4 – Escape Plan Bravo
After learning that Vaughn got away (along with Cassius, if Athena spared him), Gortys tells Vallory about the Vault of the Traveller, and how she can summon it once she gets her final upgrade from Helios. Vallory enlists the entire crew to go up to Helios for her and retrieve the upgrade; otherwise she’ll kill them.
While Fiona, Sasha, and August debate on how best to get to Helios and where to find the upgrade, Jack appears to inform Rhys that he knows exactly where the upgrade is: in Jack’s office. Rhys shares his newly acquired intel, and Gortys confirms the location with a quick scan. The team start forming their plan from there, with August and the girls bringing Scooter on board to help build a rocket to get them up to the space station. Meanwhile Rhys goes with Finch and Kroger to Old Haven, to get Vasquez’s body so they can scan him into a “New-U” station. Rhys can then take on Vasquez’s appearance as a disguise while on Helios.
Once the team is suited up and ready, the nine of them – Rhys, Fiona, Sasha, Scooter, Loader Bot, Gortys, August, Finch, and Kroger – all board the rocket and make their way toward Helios. Complications arise during the trip, so Fiona and Scooter go out to detach the booster rockets from either side of the craft. Fiona takes care of her side well enough, but Scooter’s hand gets caught in his. With no time to save him, Scooter makes Fiona detach the booster rocket with his hand still stuck. The booster explodes, and Scooter along with it.
The rest of the team arrives safely on Helios and Rhys, under the guise of Vasquez, quickly meets up with Yvette. He discovers that she also had a deal in place with Vasquez, and didn’t seem to care what happened to Rhys. Following their conversation Rhys makes his way to Vasquez’s office to monitor Fiona and the others on the security feed, informing them where to go. Their best chance at gaining access to Jack’s office is through a tour of Helios, so Fiona snags a badge and impersonates a tour guide.
During the VIP tour, one of the Handsome Jack Fan Club members tries to walk into Jack’s office and is promptly disintegrated by a force field, causing the entire office to go into full lockdown. Rhys tries to override the lockdown from Vasquez’s office, but is interrupted by another encounter with Yvette. The player decides how to handle the confrontation, but afterward Jack comes out again to tell Rhys about a trap door that he can use to enter his office, accessible through the prison level.
Fiona defaces Hyperion property so she gets taken down to the prison level to help Rhys get to the trap door, and from there he successfully enters Jack’s office. After looking around at Jack’s trophy case he finds Gortys’ final upgrade, and Jack tries talking him into jacking into the executive override port so they can run Hyperion together. Down in the prison level, Fiona and Gortys are approached by Yvette and some guards, who had captured Sasha.
Either you can accept Jack’s proposal and join willingly, or refuse and he’ll force you into it. Either way Jack is no longer restricted to the confines of Rhys’ head, and that’s where the end of Tales from the Borderlands will begin.
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