The first episode of the Outlaws of Thunder Junction story starts off by introducing a minor character named Archie Dixon – a courier, hired by an entity known as the Sterling Company.
Archie has been tasked with collecting and transporting a package, received from a middle-man from another plane. Archie waits impatiently by the Omenpath, his contact seemingly running quite late. At last, the contact emerges from the portal and hands off the package without a word, and Archie plus the two Sterling Company guards assigned to protect him, turn to their carriage and leave.
After some time traveling through the desert, night falls, and the trio is stopped dead in their tracks by a barrier of flame. Jumping to action, the bodyguards stop the carriage and prepare to fight – only to be struck down right away by a gang known as the Hellspurs. The leader of the Hellspurs, a giant Dragon known as Akul, emerges through the flames and destroys the carriage in one blow, and mortally wounding Archie at the same time. Akul then takes the package from Archie, claiming to have finally acquired the “last key,” but when he opens the bag, all he finds is coal. Realizing Archie was a decoy, the Dragon and his gang tear off in search of the real package.
With Archie presumably dead, the story shifts to focus on another new character – Annie Flash.
Annie is an ex-member of a gang known as the Freestriders, and is now hiding from her past in a small town called Saddlebrush on Thunder Junction. Accompanied by her mount, Fortune, Annie follows a plume of billowing smoke and finds the wreckage of Archie’s carriage. She instantly recognizes the work of Akul. She then raids the skeleton of the wreckage, finding some hidden cash before taking off back home to Saddlebrush.
After stopping in town to pay for some goods and a snack for Fortune, Annie leaves for her home, situated on the outskirts of town. As she approaches her home, she notices a figure standing on her front porch. She is greeted by a clean-cut, blonde man, who asks if she is Annie Flash the “notorious one-time outlaw.” The man says he’s a big fan of hers who came from the city to meet her, but Annie, utilizing a previously hidden magic eye, sees through the illusion and calls him out for being a Fae. Cover blown, Oko reveals himself and explains that he wants her help on an important heist, namely due to her ability to see through illusions. Annie turns Oko down right away, but when he asks if she’d change her mind if she knew she could get revenge on Akul, she hesitates, recalling some past trauma involving Akul and her nephew. Oko explains that he plans to steal something important from Akul, and hands her a matchbook with an address on it in case she changes her mind.
Shifting perspectives once again, we catch up with a familiar face – Kellan.
After the events of Murders at Karlov Manor, Kellan moved on from his job at the Agency, and took up working with Ral Zarek and Niv-Mizzet on the Omenpath. Life was definitely more difficult on Thunder Junction than on Ravnica, and Kellan finds himself moving metal on a job site run by Ral. It’s revealed that Ral and Niv are working to establish relay towers on the plane with the hope of establishing a form of communication between planes through the Omenpath, but Kellan came in hopes of finding his father, Oko. While working, Kellan notices that Ral has arrived on the job site, and not long after, a surge of energy erupts from one of the towers, and knocks the man working on it off. Jumping into action, Kellan uses his fae-flight and snatches the falling man mid-air.
Noticing the commotion, Ral approaches Kellan and reminds them of how accidents can set back production for several days, and to be more careful. He then walks away, but his presence is replaced by the jobsite foreman, who explains to Kellan that he is being transferred to Ral’s personal security team for a trip to Prosperity, the biggest city on the plane, for a meeting with the Sterling Company.
Read chapter one in full from Wizards of the Coast.
