q1-47-Mis

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Bloodthirsty Crustacean
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Post by Bloodthirsty Crustacean »

Scumbago, what is the status of this? 'Cos if you're not able/wanting to continue this, I'd be happy to get it out of the way for you. :)) If you're still on it, that's fine.
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Post by El Scumbago »

Unless you're busy doing something else, I'll gladly trust this in your hands, give you the scenario and links to Ashamul quests and everything you'd need. Scripting is definately beyond my abilities, so quest-making's something I'm not the best choice for.
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Post by Bloodthirsty Crustacean »

Cool. I'll take this one from you then, if that's okay with Groza and Lud. If you could post your WIPs, and any additional info I'll be needing (such as which quests are actually a part of this claim), that'd be excellent.
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Post by El Scumbago »

I hadn't made much of a progress and the plug-in was dirty as hell, so it's pretty much useless (didn't even get past the first phase!).
It's quite a read and I'm still not done with the quest's description (still got to write 3-4 more parts for it), but this should keep you busy for a couple of days at least. I can't imagine anything else you could need, as you see I tried to give you as much details as possible while keeping the description kinda brief. The only thing you may need to know (which has to do with the first part of the quest) is that Ranyon-ruhn has 3 misc quests, which the player will need to complete if certain conditions are met. Ashamul's guar-theft quest can also be linked to this one, which is something I'd like to see if possible. I'm explaining all these in detail, so I hope all your questions will be answered.
My only advice/suggestion is to read through the whole text before you begin making the quest.

Have fun ;)
========================================================================


Ranyon-ruhn MQ (q1-47) - Scenario


First of all, let me familiarize you with the city's residents (since I made the dialogue and all that).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Master Mithras, the local Telvanni lord who, contrary to his colleagues, feels compassion for his subjects and has helped the town a lot. Eranea who also lives in his tower is an old friend of his.

Mirisun Varen, also known as the 'mineboss'. He's a guard, trusted by Master Mithras and tasked with the surveilance and management of the mine and miners. The latter ones dislike him because they see him as a boss, which annoys him quite a lot.

Azariah Thelas, the accountant of the mine. He's a noble, disliked by Mithras because of his opinions on nobility. Mithras made him work (as an accountant), which led Azariah to feel humiliated and angry.

Simeth & Nataya Radasar, the first is the guard on top of the tower, the second is the lady in front of Tel Aranyon (Mithras' tower). Simeth's one of Mithras' favorites as well as Nataya, who is devoted to him and stands guard in front of his tower. One of the misc quests I made involves them, with Simeth asking the player to help him get closer to Nataya (dunno if this would help you).

Galdasi Thendas, the shame of thieves. She's a known thief, yet so unsuccesful that guards don't bother arresting her. Her dream is to succeed in "liberating" valuable items from Tel Aranyon to prove her worthiness.

Zuriel Dralor's the moaning guy, a misanthropic person who has never actually harmed anyone, yet attracts criticism.

Brelar Gildaren, brother of Manari Gildaren (the girl roaming the streets) and unemployed. Wants his sister to find a good husband so he won't let her work, fearing that she may lose part of her beauty.


Brief description of the quest (for your convenience mr.Crustacean!).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
As you may have guessed, the quest evolves around the mine and Mithras' struggle to keep it running smoothly. He has asked numerous times for the aid of the council, requesting slaves to assist the miners but never got any (Mithras may be a noble soul, but he's a Telvanni, so slaves are something natural for him). Meanwhile, the miners are getting all the more upset and the production's been falling, as Azariah Thelas' ledgers show. Reduced production means reduced income. To increase the income would mean more work, which leads the miners to greater frustration and gives Mirisun Varen (the mineboss) a run for his money as he tries to maintain order and convince them to work (they're regular miners after all, not slaves).
While everything goes for the worse, the nearby cave settlement (Ashamul) is being hit by bandits who steal the trained pack-guars, which are essential for Ranyon-ruhn's mine, as they use them to carry the raw ebony to other cities. As you can see, I intended for Ashamul's quest (which was about guar thefts) to be combined with Ranyon's for a more intriguing experience. I don't know if Ashamul's quest is done, but I believe that if you made it, you could make it so that it blends perfectly with Ranyon's quest.
As you see, Ranyon's economy is pretty much done for, with the lack of miners, growing frustration and lack of beasts of burden. Inevitably, the player will have to save the day by earning Mithras' trust and serving him until order is restored. I hope you like it so far.
Spoilers ahead: Azariah Thelas is the bad guy which will be revealed slowly, through careful design by Master Mithras. Instead of confronting him as soon as he suspects of him, Mithras wants to see if Azariah acts for himself or on behalf of someone more powerful and influential. In the end, it will be revealed that Azariah is a pawn of a Telvanni wannabe-lord who supports Mistress Rathra and she supports him back, giving him gold and men to help him. The ultimate goal is to get rid of Master Mithras who has more sense than most Telvanni lords and despises needless violence and massacre, even if it -supposedly- is in the best interests of the Telvanni and damages the Imperial influence. Truth is that Mithras, on top of all these, despises Rathra as well, so it's rather natural for the Telvanni mistress to plot against him.


Detailed description. I've separated this into sub-quests, which is how I suppose it should be made.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quest 1 - A Town, A Lord, A Bunch of Trouble
Upon speaking to one of Ranyon's residents, the pc will be greeted with something like "What? Oh, I'm sorry %PCRace, I was lost in my thoughts. These are hard times for our town you see." or something similar. Pick a phrase (like 'hard times') and make a new topic of it, where the NPC will inform the player briefly about the recent income reduction of the mine, saying that he/she hopes Master Mithras will come up with something to help the town once more. A journal update advises the player to talk to Mithras.
If the player belongs to house Hlaalu or the Legion, Master Mithras will deny discussing the matter with him unless he hears that his subjects think well of the player. Journal update. To gain favor, the player must complete at least two of the three misc quests for Ranyon Ruhn (or all three, if the latter's hard to do). Note that there shouldn't be any hints informing the player to complete these quests, he should find out on his own. If you feel the player should have a clue, try to make it very vague.
If the player belongs to neither faction, or if he completes the necessary quests, Mithras will accept to talk to him. He will admit that there's been a reduction of production and income and ask the pc if he'd care to help. The player can choose to accept or take his time to think about it. Either way, Journal update.
When the player accepts, Mithras will direct him to Azariah Thelas, the accountant, since he's busy to explain things in detail and Azariah may need assistance in his work. Mithras will say something like "I'm glad you wanna help, whenever you feel ready go see Azariah Thelas who lives there and does this and that, Gbye". Journal Update, end of quest. Perhaps we should include two Journal updates here, one that ends this quest and one that starts the next, to serve as a reminder for the player (like in the Dark Brotherhood's quests, in Oblivion).


Quest 2 - A Most Displeased Noble
Azariah Thelas will receive the player without too much joy (include something slightly humoristic, like "Do you know anything about accountance? No? As I expected, another useless assistant"). He will inform the player about the situation, the few and displeased miners and the rest (without too much joy, as always) and advices the player to head to the mine and speak to the people there to see by himself what things are like. He also hands the pc some gold to deliver to Mirisun Varen down at the mine, as payment for the miners, while he thinks of ways the pc can be useful. Mirisun feels a relief, believing that the gold will calm down the miners for the time being and urges the player to talk with them. The miners won't hide their frustration, saying that Azariah and Mirisun are working together in stealing money. They believe Mirisun lies to them and forces them to work more so that he and his partner can steal more, while Azariah covers the whole thing, being the accountant of the mine.
Upon returning to Azariah, the pc will tell him of the situation and then he'll be tasked with ordering pickaxes to the merchant who has a bench next to the temple, Kobin Delas. Kobin informs the player that the delivery will take place after 2 days. This will automatically begin another quest (Quest 2.5 - A Late Shipment, see below).
Report to Azariah, who informs the pc that he hasn't any more work for the time being. The quest ends with Azariah telling the player to check with Mithras, who has called for him.
Try to keep Azariah's new dialogue consistent with the existing, presenting him as a disrespectful, whining and spoiled person who cares for nothing but himself, luxuries and relaxing.


Quest 2.5 - A Late Shipment
After 2 days' time since the pc ordered the pickaxes to Kobin Delas, his journal will update, telling him to check with the merchant about the delivery. Kobin Delas will reply that the shipment should be in his hands already and fears that the supplier has been assaulted or harmed by bandits. The player can ask (via choice) where was the supplier coming from (which town), so that the player will know which road to search on. Kobin will answer his supplier was coming from Gah Ouadaruhn. Pick a spot on that road to place a cart with a couple of crates on it, one of which must be cracked, with pickaxes that have fallen around (the cart and crates should be deactivated until this phase of the quest and deactivated again when it ends, so that the road doesn't get littered with statics). When the player's near the cart his journal updates and a bunch of thugs (also deactivated before this phase) appear and attack him. After killing them, the player must gather the pickaxes, get a journal update when he has all of them in his inventory, inform Kobin Delas who won't charge him anything for the shipment, and inform Azariah Thelas who will tell him to deliver them to Mirisun Varen. While Varen will be surprised that the supplier had been attacked but -obviously- not robbed, Azariah won't pay much attention when the player will return from the mine to receive payment for his trouble (Azariah will give him the money he would normally give to Kobin Delas). End of quest.


Quest 3 - Concerns of a Lord
Master Mithras welcomes the pc, asking him if he's ready for something more serious than minor chores (choice; yes/not right now). When the pc accepts, Mithras will tell him that he decided to ask the council for slaves once more. He will hand the pc a scroll, bearing his seal, to be given to a specific member of the council (I'd actually prefer a new NPC, something like a servant/secretary of the council that is responsible for such matters, humble and polite to no end). The pc is to travel to Port Telvannis and deliver the scroll to the NPC whom he's supposed to meet, instructed to insist in case of denial.
When the scroll is delivered, the pc will be asked to wait for a couple of hours - outside the room. When the two hours have passed, journal's updated and the pc has to go back into the room and meet the NPC, who will tell him that the council has no slaves to spare. As the pc was instructed to insist in case of denial, there should be a choice here, where the player can obediently accept the council's decision or doubt about the lack of slaves and ask to meet a member of the council at once. In the second case, the NPC will answer something like "Your predicted arrogance will have a serious impact on your Master, outlander. Leave this chamber and inform the lord of Ranyon-ruhn that his troubles are his own to bear and end. The council considers this matter closed. Have a nice day, n'wah". *Goodbye*
If the player attempts to speak to the NPC again, he will receive a negative greeting and a *Goodbye* instantly. Back to Mithras for report.
Mithras will not ask whether the player insisted or not, but his desperation will be obvious, given that he feels deserted. He will then ask the pc to meet him again after a day, during which he will try to come up with a solution.


Quest 4 - Drastic Measures
This quest should only be available after Quest 2.5 is finished. If the player attempts to speak to Mithras after Quest 3 is complete and a day has passed, but Quest 2.5 is still active, Mithras will tell him that he still has a task for Azariah to do. If all the conditions are met, Mithras will greet the player by saying that he learned of the incident and will consult Mirisun Varen and Azariah Thelas about it. In the meantime, since the council will send no slaves, the only solution is to hire more miners. The player needs to roam Ranyon-ruhn in search of possible employees. Brelar Gildaren (see the main characters, above) is looking for work and the player can learn it either by talking to him, his sister (Manari Gildaren) or by asking around (people will tell him only if their disposition is 60 or higher). Once agreeing with Brelar,
the pc will have to report to Mithras.
Mithras will be somewhat glad but will bring up the matter of funds, which aren't enough to hire more miners, mentioning that he still owes more than a few septims to the current ones. The player has to go to Azariah, learn the exact sum and report it to Mithras (this may disturb the flow of events, so you might as well ignore it). Mithras has already decided that the only way to gather extra gold is through looting and tasks the player with entering a specific outlaw cave in the area (pick one and add a chest with 2000 gold near the leader's area). The player needn't kill the outlaws, just retrieve what gold he can find. Mithras will mention the cave but not the chest, it's up to the player to find it.
Upon activating this particular chest, the journal will update, so Mithras will "understand" that the player went to the cave and found the needed gold. If the player chooses not to go to the cave and give the money to Mithras right away (provided he has the sum), Mithras will "understand" the player has donated the money (since the chest related journal entry won't have happened). If the player "donates" the gold before/without activating the chest, Mithras will appreciate it and give him an enchanted item of his. Nothing too uber. End of quest.
Note: Slowly revealing the relationship between Mithras and Rathra would be a nice extra. In the beginning of this quest, Mithras could say something like "It's no wonder the council denies me assistance. After all, they're in Rathra's pocket". A topic about Rathra can also be added so that the player can learn some more info in a way that they don't interrupt the flow of the quests.


Quest 5 - Chains and Daggers
With the recruitment of Brelar Gildaren and the payment of the miners, production has slightly increased, but not by much, as Mithras will admit. The next job is to acquire a pair of slaves that Azariah arranged to buy from a passing Dres slave trader. The player is to see Azariah, get the gold for the slaves and learn where to meet the trader. The latter will be waiting for the pc on the road to Firewatch, north of Ranyon-ruhn. Once the transaction is done, the player will escort the slaves back to Ranyon only to be attacked by them when they're far enough from the slave trader. The slaves must be equipped with enchanted daggers and have their stats improved, given that they're unarmored. As for the part where they attack the player when the trader's out of sight, a script that counts distance would be the best solution imo. I suppose you can also make the script check for a cell change to make them attack, both would work.
Anyway, the slaves are slayed, the trader's nowhere to be found (disable), so the pc must return to Mithras and report. If he tells Azariah about it, he should meet a 'cold surprise', something like "Slaves, what else can one expect from beastfolk. I don't suppose you got the gold back, did you?". Mithras on the other hand will be surprised that a couple of helpless slaves carried enchanted blades. He teaches the player a healing spell and the quest ends.


Quest 6 - Seeds of Suspicion
Master Mithras has discussed the recent assasination attempts against the player with Mirisun Varen and decided to keep an eye on Azariah Thelas, since he was the one who arranged the slave transaction and knew about the pickaxe shipment. Given that Mirisun Varen was constantly in the mine, Azariah is the basic suspect. However, Mithras wishes for none to confront Azariah Thelas about these matters until he has more tangible clues in his hands.
For the time being, Mithras needs someone to lead a pack guar loaded with ebony from the mine, all the way to Port Telvannis. This is the part where the player needs to go to Ashamul and hire a pack guar (Ranyon-ruhn and Ashamul trade services and goods, which provides the residents of Ashamul some income). Here's the connection phase between Ranyon's MQ and Ashamul's guar theft quest. If this hasn't been done yet, read my suggestion below (Quest 6.5 - The Guar Thief). If Quest 6.5 hasn't been completed before this one, then the player will be forced to complete it in order to proceed. Once it's done, the player will be able to borrow a pack-guar for free (as a gift for his efforts) and lead it outside the mine. If he lets the guar follow him inside the mine, Mirisun won't speak to him until he leads it outside. The pc will then speak with Mirisun, learn who to look for in Port Telvannis and get outside. The pack-guar will be loaded and the player may lead it to Port Telvannis without any serious incidents (save for the occasional wild animal that will attack him).
If the guar's killed, the player will have to head back to Ashamul, pay to borrow a new one and repeat the procedure. In this case he'll need to find the corpse of the previous guar (provided it's still there) and load the ebony to the new one, otherwise he'll have to pay for the missing ebony and get another load to transfer to Port Telvannis. It's possible that the player will be able to carry a lot of weight, so it'd be good to load the guar with enough ebony (35-40 pieces), which will also increase the temptation to kill the beast and steal its cargo!
When the pc arrives to Port Telvannis, he'll have to seek a specific merchant (new NPC) who'll be walking around in the streets, waiting for him. The merchant will pay the cash and the player will return back to Ranyon, report to Mirisun and deliver the gold to Azariah.


Quest 6.5 - The Guar Thief
This is my suggestion for the Ashamul guar theft quest. I don't intend to change the original concept, just add a few things that will make it tie better with Ranyon and its quest. The caretaker of the guar pen will not hesitate to accuse Galdasi Thendas (the failed thief, see above) and the other residents of Ashamul will share that opinion, thinking that she may be better at stealing guars than valuable items. The player will need to ask the Ranyon guards, who will direct him to Simeth (saying something like "I don't waste time watcing over that loser, but Simeth's likely to know more"), the guy on top of the town's guard tower (or he can go straight to him). Simeth will reply that Galdasi hasn't left the town, let alone that stealing something living is far beyond the capability of someone who can't even steal some dirt. If asked, Galdasi will deny everything, claiming that if she could pull such a theft she'd run around the town shouting it. If you can blend these things with the original quest's design, it'd be great. If not, it's ok, these additions aren't that much of a necessity.


I hope you like the idea so far. I tried to present it with enough detail but not too much. I'd like to hear your opinion and thoughts on the scenario and the series of events after you read it. Also note that I tried to avoid including many battles in these phases, but the next ones will have more of that. I'm also trying to figure ways to make the player use his head a bit more (like the first quest, where he has to understand how to earn Mithras' trust). Any ideas are welcome.
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Bloodthirsty Crustacean
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Post by Bloodthirsty Crustacean »

Wow, I love this questline. This is going to be very fun. :)

Right, my first thing is that I will probably make it so that you only earn Mithras' trust immediately if you are Telvanni, otherwise you have to do the other miscs. (By the way, where are those, 'cos I'll be needing journal indexes etc. from them, are they done already/in a seperate claim?)

Also, the Port Telvannis secretary will be the one and only Vero Renim, who I've done a load of personalised dialogue for before, (he's snarky and arrogant). He's a personal favourite of mine.


All I really need to know before getting going is, where/what are the misc. quests for Ranyon-ruhn, because I'd like to get them implemented in this .esp if possible.

Thanks for the excellent guide Scumbago. :))
a man builds a city
with
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a man melts the sand so he
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"They destroyed Morrowind? Fiddlesticks! Now we're going to have to rebuild it again!"
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Bloodthirsty Crustacean
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Post by Bloodthirsty Crustacean »

Okay, I think I've got the misc. quests. (They were uploaded half way through this thread, right?)

I've just done all the renaming and stuff, which is good. The only thing I've been unable to fix is that there's quite a bit of stuff in Greeting 1. I don't know how to move it to 5, and frankly can't be bothered. If it's truly imperative, I might be coerced into doing it, or perhaps the merger should.

I've also made a couple of fixes to grammar/wording etc. (Which is a bit picky on my part, but I just felt it necessary in some places)

Anyway, here's the list of added stuff for these miscs:
  • TR_m1_q_NatayaLongsword to Tel Aranyon, Mithras Tower
    TR_m1_O_Tidril_Venim to Tansumiran
Now if I get Ashamul's stuff out of the way, I can get on with the real fun! :)
a man builds a city
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a man melts the sand so he
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Post by El Scumbago »

Yeah, I saw you claimed Ashamul's quests, which is great since you can shape them as you want. I think the two references you mentioned are the only ones, I tried to avoid overloading the place with extra stuff.
As for the Port Telvannis secretary, I don't mean to spoil the surprise but he's scheduled to die/disappear in the end, which is a pity since he's one of your favorites. However, I just came up with an alternative solution, where the council keeps him at their service because someone known for his habit of betrayal cannot hide anymore (keep your enemies close and all that). If map1's MQ hasn't been completed and the player completes Ranyon's one, it will be Rathra who will keep him in PT, but the outcome's the same (a humbled guy, serving in fear). I hope you'll enjoy ending his ambitions in such a humiliating way, but any suggestions are welcome.
Initially, I was thinking of giving the player an extra choice where he'd cooperate with Azariah and his master, but then I realised that this would make things hellish for whoever developed map1's MQ, because it already has multiple ends and all are based in the current status quo (that Mithras is by defualt Ranyon's lord). So, there will be a huge management crisis (god, I'm a freakin' accountant) but Mithras will be everlasting!
I'm glad you like the idea, if there's a way to take some of the workload off your shoulders (save for scripting) let me know. I'll have the rest of the quest's description posted by Saturday.
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Post by Bloodthirsty Crustacean »

Well, Mr. Renim plays a vital role in several quests, so best to keep him alive, and hopefully still snarky ;). I'll see how we can play around with the quest, to ensure he survives intact. :)

EDIT: Oh yeah, and I just remembered that Starcrunch had him set up as the guy who'd deal with initiating the PC into TR House Telvanni. So he's definantly gotta live.
a man builds a city
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a man melts the sand so he
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Post by Bloodthirsty Crustacean »

Hey Scumbago, you said that you had yet to upload the full questline, but there's a question I've got about the missing bit. Does Galdasi Thendas actually play a role in the forthcoming quests, as currently it seems more trouble than it's worth to put in a random 'wild goose chase' for the 'find the guar thief' quest.
a man builds a city
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a man melts the sand so he
can see the world outside


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Post by El Scumbago »

I've thought of ways to use her, but I still need to polish that part a bit. This spin-off with Galdasi playing a minor role in Ashamul's quest was a means of introducing her to the player. I hate having characters appearing out of thin air when they come into the scene. Maybe it's too cinematic, but I hope it's worth the trouble (although I think that adding a couple of dialogue lines isn't that much).
And, now that we mentioned Galdasi's involvement, I'd like your opinion about it. Here's the plan in a few words;

Everyone knows she's a joke of a thief, while she dreams of proving them all wrong. I was thinking that Mithras can use her incompetence to set a trap to Azariah by "framing" her. Galdasi will be accused by Simeth (the guard on the watchtower) that she was caught red-handed, selling ebony pieces to someone. Simeth and Galdasi are both in the trick, and it won't seem weird that Galdasi managed to steal ebony, since she finally gets caught, as she should be according to her fame. Galdasi will "admit" she's been stealing ebony for the past weeks, *out of the stocked supplies*.
Azariah will hurry to blame her for missing ebony pieces, but this rushed statement of his is what will expose him. Explaining: Mirisun Vern's ledgers agree perfectly with Azariah's, which is weird considering that Mirisun writes down the amount of ebony while it's mined and Azariah writes down the total amount of ebony that is stocked. If Galdasi had been stealing stocked ebony (as Azariah rushed to confirm), his ledgers are obviously wrong.
Due to the fact that Azariah takes Mirisun's ledgers to his house each time he is to compare and count, it's apparent that he's been "fixing" the books to his liking.
These explanations won't be given to the player when Azariah is exposed, like in a sucky movie's scenario, but gradually, through the quests that will precede Azariah's exposure. If the player pays any attention to this info, he will understand Mithras' plan when he suggests it.

Before I upload the second and last part of the quest though, I'd like you to tell me what else is Renim involved into. If all the other quests he's a part of depict him allied or neutral to Rathra, it's all fine. If not, we'll have to change things a bit, possibly making a new NPC to take his place.

On a separate note, you said you're going to merge the 3 RR quests into this one's esp. If you do/have, I'd like to ask you for some small fixes.
1) Change Tidril Venim's equipment a bit, because he's identical to the man who's standing next to him in the CS.
2) Add a condition where the quest with the slandered alchemists ends if the player kills Sinsal Nedriem instead of driving him out of town or getting bribed by him. Make it so that, in this case, the alchemists recognise that the quest is completed but are dissapointed with the player and give him no reward.
3) I'm not sure if I've added a condition to remove Nataya's longsword from Mithras' tower if he gives it to the player. Can you please check it? Also, when the player has completed that quest, either he steals the sword or gets it from Mithras, the latter only has one response to that topic. Would you mind checking that too?

And one more thing I just realised; to earn Mithras' trust, the player will need to complete all 3 quests of the city. However, if he chooses to accept Sinsal's bribe and allow him to stay in the town, he completes the quest but does a great disservice to Ranyon's residents. I suppose you could add a condition that checks which journal entry it was that ended this quest, and if it's the one where the pc took the bribe, it would not gain him Mithras' favor. In this case though, the player would be unable to play through Ranyon's MQ. What do you suggest?
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Post by Bloodthirsty Crustacean »

El Scumbago wrote:Azariah will hurry to blame her for missing ebony pieces
Okay, that makes sense, I'll stick in the goose chase for thiefy-girl. One question, though (on the quoted bit): why does Azariah rush to blame her? If he knows he's been making sure the numbers are the same in both the journals, and if he knows she's a crap thief, why would he 'rush to say she had stolen something' when all the evidence points against that probability.

You may have to explain that bit to me again.
El Scumbago wrote: Before I upload the second and last part of the quest though, I'd like you to tell me what else is Renim involved into. If all the other quests he's a part of depict him allied or neutral to Rathra, it's all fine. If not, we'll have to change things a bit, possibly making a new NPC to take his place.
Renim plays a role in the Temple questline, has a one off unique line for one of my Port Telvannis misc. quests, and plays a role in a few mouth quests, I think. He also deals with "join House Telvanni" dialogue. He has no obvious allegiance, though his "Background" line that I wrote for him mentions something like "I wait to have my true potential recognised by a Telvanni Lord" kinda thing.

I will also make those fixes you suggested. (And I fixed Tidril already, and I changed his surname, by the way, just because Venim is a name prominently associated with House Redoran in game, and he's a rogue Telvanni mage.)
El Scumbago wrote: And one more thing I just realised; to earn Mithras' trust, the player will need to complete all 3 quests of the city. However, if he chooses to accept Sinsal's bribe and allow him to stay in the town, he completes the quest but does a great disservice to Ranyon's residents. I suppose you could add a condition that checks which journal entry it was that ended this quest, and if it's the one where the pc took the bribe, it would not gain him Mithras' favor. In this case though, the player would be unable to play through Ranyon's MQ. What do you suggest?
Perhaps we could make it 'do 2 quests', so that the player can afford that mistake. However, there's no way I'm cutting people off from a cool quest line like this one just because they're roleplaying a 'rogue' type 'take-the-money' character. That'd be unfair.
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Post by El Scumbago »

Bloodthirsty Crustacean wrote:Perhaps we could make it 'do 2 quests', so that the player can afford that mistake. However, there's no way I'm cutting people off from a cool quest line like this one just because they're roleplaying a 'rogue' type 'take-the-money' character. That'd be unfair.
I agree. This is perhaps the most important quest in terms of helping the residents of the town, so failing them in this one is too big for the local lord to ignore. Perhaps the player could make amends by paying a really significant amount of money as compensation, or doing a very simple but hard quest (for lvl 30 chars and above).

As for Azariah, I thought he wouldn't dare question the words of a guard, especially one's that is favored by Mithras. Or, it could be said that Galdasi had a partner in this so that her success doesn't seem that awkward. In any case, if the authorities seem assured that ebony had been stolen from the stocked supplies, the only thing Azariah would be able to do is to play along and give a cheap excuse. The whole point is to force Azariah to admit that he has been keeping false records. If he does, he's automatically exposed, since Mithras and the rest of the gang know that no theft has taken place, as it's them who set this up. As I said, I still need to improve this part, so any suggestions of yours would be very useful.
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Post by Bloodthirsty Crustacean »

Ah yeah, gotcha. The guards (or you in their stead) could demand to see Azariah's ledgers to see "how much ebony Galdasi actually stole". That would reveal him, and he (as you say) would look suspicious anyway if argued with Mithras' emmissary.

Perhaps we could have a little 'dialogue check' to see if Azariah can bluff you into not looking at the ledgers, and perhaps open up an alternative 'idiot's path' (:p), where Azariah gets together some fake ledgers, and you have to find his original fakes. :P

Or maybe that'd be too much work.

So what happens after that quest? Does Azariah get kicked out/killed, or what?


EDIT: On getting Mithras' trust, if you can come up with a fourth quest for the PC to do if they 'took the money', then I'll gladly implement it. :)
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Post by El Scumbago »

Something fast and simple, go-kill-the-uber-bad-guy style. I'm still thinking about it, but I love your approach to Azariah's cornering. I don't think he'd keep the true documents, to be safe in case someone comes searching (he and Mithras aren't the best buddies as you remember), but he could have ripped some pages off the ledger and claim it was the thieves who did it. Why would they do it? Cheap excuse to buy some time, but Mithras is now assured that he's a traitor.

What happens after that? The player hunts down Azariah while he's trying to make his escape, accompanied by bodyguards. Azariah will not dare join his bodyguards in death and will follow the player back to Tel Aranyon, before Master Mithras, who will interrogate him. The last part is all about heavy revelations and mindless killing (I want the player to go berserk!!!), where the final showdown with the wannabe Telvanni lord will happen. I've planned a very satisfying end, with righteousness and bloodlust becoming one and the same. I think you're going to enjoy that :)
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Post by Bloodthirsty Crustacean »

Cool, cool. Sounds like fun! :D

Hopefully once Hemitheon gets the ints for the Ashamul quests done, I can get on with this lot ASAP.
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Post by Bloodthirsty Crustacean »

I'll be starting work on this line soon, once Ashamul's done, so could you work out the detailed plan for the final quests for this line, Scumbago? Hopefully by the weekend, because that's when I'll really get into this.
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Post by El Scumbago »

Sooner done than said! Here's the final bunch.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quest 7 - Checking the Progress
Mithras asks of the player to speak with Mirisun and see what the situation is like, now that things are going for the better. Mirisun himself is confused. He'll inform the player that, although the miners are slightly happier and more content, productivity isn't really improved. He then advices the pc to speak to the miners and draw his own conclusions.
The miners are indeed less angry than before. They still support their accusations, claiming that something's going on with Mirisun and Azariah, but as long as it doesn't have an impact on them anymore (given that they received their owed salaries in a previous quest), they're glad to dig as much as they have to. While speaking of accusations though, they will express an interest as to how much of the extracted ebony reaches the stock supplies. The miners are aware of the ledgers and their contents but claim that they are fake or wrong and that they're definately digging out much greater amounts. They'll also mention that the ebony vein in the mine is far from drying out, since a shortage of available raw ebony is the last thing left that could perhaps justify the rate of production (as this is depicted in the ledgers). Give the player a couple of questions (choices) to ask the miners about more specific info. They'll tell him to speak to either Mirisun or Azariah about the details.
The player now needs to ask Mirisun/Azariah a couple of things. The question(s) should focus on how exactly the whole system works (extraction -> Mirisun counts and writes -> storaging of written amounts -> Azariah counts and confirms). Mirisun will gladly satisfy the player's curiosity, while Azariah's responses should be more "careful", as if these questions seem suspicious to him.
Return to Mithras, whom the player inform about these details he learned through asking Mirisun and Azariah. Mithras will of course be aware of all these, and if the player has already asked Azariah (journal entry check), he'll be told that this wasn't a wise move, since Azariah's suspected for treachery (since Quest 6). Mithras would say something like ("you went asking him about the details of his job? why didn't you tell him in the face that his loyalty is doubted?"). If the player's already ascended in the vanilla/TR Telvanni faction, Mithras' response could be more humoristic ("just how did you manage to get in our House in the first place?").
After that's done, the player will report that the situation is pretty much the same as before, which is awkward but Mithras expected so. He feels that his suspicions of treachery are now confirmed, and all that's left to see is who the traitor is. He'll say he's got something in mind but the player must keep a lid on the case until it's over, one way or another. Speaking of treachery, try and squeeze some Rathra related dialogue in this (something about having one of her moles among his subjects or something like that). End of quest.


Quest 8 - One More Check
After the last report, Mithras wants to check if Azariah or someone else is hiding sums, thus stealing money from the ebony trade ("if the miners' accusations hold any truth, this is how we learn it" etc). The player needs to return to Port Telvannis and meet with someone responsible for economical matters. Mithras advices the player to seek once again the secretary of the council, who handles such jobs as providing information on behalf of the council or the people working for/associated with it. Azariah and Mirisun need to know nothing about it, of course. Before the player leaves though, he has to drop by Galdasi's and make her an offer from Mithras which starts a sub-quest (see below, Quest 8.5).
Once arrived -and greeted in a rather cold way- the player will ask for a copy of the Telvannis' accountants ledgers to bring back in Ranyon-ruhn. The secretary asks that the player waits outside the room (for 2-3 hours), until the bureaucratic procedures of his request are over. When the time's right, the journal's updated, the player goes inside to receive the copy and returns to Azariah's house to compare ledgers. Azariah will be furious with anger and insult, but cannot deny. Include two options (answers) for the player to say when Azariah begins "shouting", one true (Master Mithras ordered a routine check) and one lie (the Telvanni council wishes to see that all Telvanni lords act according to their duties). I don't think we should make things too complicated, so the answer the player will choose needn't have any impact on the questline itself, just on Azariah's disposition (-40 if choosing the true answer). The comparison can be made via dialogue (speak to Azariah about comparing the books and get a phrase inside brackets saying that you checked and both books are in agreement). Afterwards, the player must head down to the mine and activate the ledger that's on the table next to Mirisun Varen to compare the Telvanni ledgers with his. Once again, everything seems fine.
Report to Mithras, who was afraid this would be the case. Rathra dialogue fits nicely here ("if it's indeed one of Rathra's little plots, it makes sense that she wouldn't leave evidence like the ones we searched for"). Mithras will also ask that the player meets him after 3 days.


Quest 8.5 - An Offer She Can't Deny
This is the sub-quest that will be started with Quest 8, when Mithras asks the player to visit Galdasi before going to Port Telvannis. He will be pretty much enigmatic, giving the player a verbal message to deliver to her ("Tell her that her Master offers a chance to improve her standing among thieves", or something similar).
Include a journal check here; if the player asks her before getting the papers from Port Telvannis, she'll say she needs some time to think about it. If the player has the papers, she'll accept at once. Report to Mithras for the quest to end.
Note that if you can make this quest begin earlier (for example, with Quest 7) it will be better, since Quest 9 is about the trap where Galdasi is an active participant and it wouldn't seem right to have Mithras offer her the job just before it happens. Plus, it's nice when the player does something and sees the results of it later, saying "aah, so that's what that thing was about".


Quest 9 - Out of the Cauldron
When 3 days have passed since the end of Quest 8, Mithras will inform the player that, while the latter was away on various tasks, he took advantage of the distraction the player's investigations had caused and did a little investigation himself. Mirisun Varen's past was known to Mithras, as he knew the "mineboss" for quite some time. What he searched for was clues about Azariah's past, which proved to be rather well-covered and disturbing.
Sending the player after Mirisun lately was a simply a way to blur things for Azariah. Now that this "blurring" achieved its goal and Mithras retrieved the info he suspected he'd find, he decided it's time to go on and arrest Azariah. However, although it's now obvious to Mithras that Azariah's been cooking the ledgers to his liking, the council won't approve his arrest without tangible, hard evidence. The only way to convince them is to catch Azariah red-handed.
The player will ask how will this be achieved, only to be greeted by a grin and a suggestion to roam the streets of Ranyon ("The word's already on the streets, haven't you heard the rumors?" or something like this, suggesting that the player asks the Ranyon-ers about latest rumors).
Upon talking with anyone about that topic, he'll be told something like "omg, lolzzz, Galdasi's da m4st4 th13f, Simeth caught her selling stolen ebony!!11!1".
If the player goes to Galdasi's, he'll find her and a guard inside her house (he'll only say "don't worry, I'm watching her" *Goodbye*"), while Galdasi will be overjoyed with happiness ("Now everyone will know what I'm really about, I stole ebony from the stock, I'm famous" or something).
If the player speaks to Mirisun, he'll be out of control, only having a greeting with a *Goodbye*, not offering further dialogue. His greeting should be mere mumbling, like "How did that brat did this? I... I didn't spot a single shadow all this time... I... She... Argh, I'll kill her".
If the player talks to Simeth (always on the guard tower) about it, he'll get an answer like "Brilliant plan, this one. I only hope we don't fail the Master. Go on, it's your turn now". Pick a phrase as usual (example, "your turn"), to make a topic out of it. The player will then learn the plan; Galdasi was supposedly aided by an undiscovered, experienced partner who helped her steal ebony for the past 3 days. Of course, nothing's been stolen, it's all a setup to frame Azariah by claiming that he didn't write down the missing ebony pieces in his books. The whole point is that he won't have time to "correct" his ledgers in order to elude the trap, so the player is to visit him asap and ask him for the stocked ebony ledgers.
In an attempt to buy some time, Azariah (who must seem startled and surprised) will answer that he found them missing, along with several pieces of ebony. The player may have a couple of things that he can say to Azariah, like "Since when are thieves interested in ledgers?" or "This is suspiciously convenient, don't you think?" or "Why would you leave your books with the ebony crates?".
Once the player chooses one of the available comments, Azariah will give him a cheap excuse and the journal will be updated, making it impossible to select the rest of the comments. Not that it will matter, but I'd love to torment the player, making him load his game again and again in hope of picking an answer that may have immediate results!
After Azariah's excuse, the player will have a single available sentence to say, something like "Don't leave the place" or "I'll return after consulting x person on the matter".
Mithras will be eager to see this end. He'll say that Azariah's simply buying time that he can't use (or, "but I'll not sell any" - this is a favorite from Max Payne!) and order the player to bring Azariah before him for interrogation. By the time the player's back to Azariah's, he'll be gone (journal update upon entering). Before doing anything else, the player will also have to find and fetch Azariah's ledgers to Mithras. He'll need to find both the "official" and the private, the one where Azariah wrote the true amounts of extracted ebony and the amounts stolen by him. The journal should subtly suggest that there's a private ledger (something like "if Azariah was deep into this, I may also find evidence of his guilt"). Both ledgers should be deactivated until the player reached this part of the quest. Try to squeeze the secret ledger into some weird place (like Ajira's scrolls from the MG questline, which Galbedir had hidden).
Mithras will get close to having a heart-attack when he checks the amounts Azariah had secretly stolen. The player must quickly ask the guards if they saw something. They haven't and will direct him to Simeth, who also hasn't even though he was keeping an eye on Azariah's house and explains that he must have escaped via teleportation. Note that the player may also ask if anyone saw anything before he reports to Mithras, so that he doesn't get frustrated by the constant back-&-forth.
Mithras however doesn't wish for this to end so well for Azariah, but tracing him is impossible. He'll say that all the trouble is almost over and the only thing left is to find the accursed noble and the quest ends.


Quest 10 - Tracing the Traitor
The player is to go to Port Telvannis, meet with the council, explain the situation and require aid in capturing the escapee. He'll meet the infuriating secretary once again, who will be very surprised to hear the news and ask the player to wait for a couple of hours (as usually) outside the room.
After these hours have passed, the journal will update and the player will enter the room to find out that the secretary is gone. Asking around, he'll learn that he was seen reading a teleportation scroll Only a single person in the same or a nearby room should know this, the rest would suggest that the player asks a person who was near the secretary. The person who saw him couldn't remember if it was a Divine Intervention or Almsivi Intervention scroll, so the player has two questions he may ask; the whereabouts of the nearest temple and the whereabouts of the nearest Imperial Cult chapel. The player must use his sense here and see that a Telvanni wouldn't flee to Imperial territory.
Now, I don't know what the nearest temple is (I suppose that playing map1 and casting Almsivi Intervention from Port Telvannis will solve the question, but I was too lazy to do it - sorry).
Anyway, once the player arrives to wherever the temple is and asks around, he'll learn that a guy appeared, headed to the tavern and left the place with two bad-ass guys that he hired in a hurry. They'll give the player a direction and if he follows the road he should be able to find the three of them 3-4 cells away. A nice fight will occur (one thug's an archer, the other's a barbarian). When the thugs are dead the player will angrily ask the secretary about his role in the whole mess. He will answer that he'll say everything and plead to be spared. The pc needs to escort the secretary to Tel Aranyon, before Mithras (the player could also say something heroic/cool to intimidate the poor secretary, just for fun).
Mithras will be puzzled at first but when he hears that the secretary attempted to escape he will allow the player to interrogate him in front of him. Some angry attitude and catchy phrases may be in order here. In any case, the secretary will reveal that he never actually informed the council of anything, that he was working alongside with Azariah and had been following specific instructions for a long time. The player will then ask where did Azariah teleport. The secretary will answer that it's some sort of cave, the location of which he doesn't know because he had only went there via a remark amulet he had been given and always left the place using Intervention scrolls. If you think it fits the conversation, the player may ask why didn't he use his amulet instead of a scroll, and the secretary will answer that he didn't have it with him at the time.
As mentioned, he doesn't know the location of the cave but he knows the name. Pick a cave with criminals inside and make a topic about it which will be discuss-able with Mithras and the scout in Ranyon-ruhn (I forget her name). Mithras will direct the player to the scout while he arranges some other stuff. Once the pc returns, Mithras asks him that he storms the place and brings him Azariah, preferably alive, along with the man he serves (the secretary revealed to Mithras that Azariah was taking orders from someone). In the meanwhile, Mithras will send representatives to the council's members to inform them of the situation that has been going on for so long, right under everyone's nose.
Mithras -who has grown very fond of the player- will ask the pc to be extremely cautious in there and also gives him a personal enchanted item of his, a gift of Nataya Radasar's father (the dead father of the lady that's in front of Tel Aranyon, the one that Simeth likes). The item shouldn't be too special, but a Second Barrier spell along with Intelligence Fortification would be a nice combo imo. End of quest.
Note that this should better be a double journal update, one entry ends Quest 10 and the other starts Quest 11, the final one.


Quest 11 - Time to Pay, the Telvanni Way
The player must get loaded with armor and goodies and head to the cave as the scout instructed him. Once in, he simply needs to fight the bad guys (they should be somewhat hard, around lvl 20 would be good for a questline's final showdown).
Now, the layout of the cave may perhaps need to be altered to provide enough space for the final events, but that's a very small detail. In the final room, the player will come face to face with Azariah standing next to a powerful-looking guy, wearing heavy armor and a cool-looking robe (give it a special enchantment). He will not attack, unlike his lackeys, but will start a conversation with the player via forced dialogue. Here, the player will satisfy his curiosity as to who he finally is, how could he pull such a major trick, why did he pull it, what's his final goal and if he is in any way associated to Rathra.
As you may expected, he is a powerful wizard, expelled member of the House Telvanni and supporter of Rathra. Rathra was providing some little assistance in order to avoid attracting attention, and lots of info. The bad guy -under Rathra's guidance- wanted to undermine Ranyon's economy, make Mithras lose his position and, supported by his mistress, he would get reinstated, ascend to lordship, and in turn support her in realising her plans, using among other things the profits from the stolen ebony as well as what profits would come next from the mine.
He will then ask who was that snitched the cave's name, get infuriated with both the secretary's and Azariah's uselessness, end the dialogue and kill Azariah (who'd better have very little HP in order to die at once. I don't know what kind of scripting this will require, but I hope it's doable.
After killing Azariah, he will engage the pc in forced dialogue once again, announcing he'll kill him, then kill the secretary so that Mithras has no more evidence in his hands, and will start all over again. Before the *Goodbye* appears (where the journal will get updated), he'll shout two names, and a couple of previously disabled NPCs will get enabled and attack the pc. At the same time, Mithras will also appear and attack the two NPCs (a copy of Mithras to be exact, that when enabled will get in escort mode) He'd better be really powerful.
Once they're dead, Mithras will force-dialogue the player, revealing that he had overheard all of the conversation and joking about arriving just in time, allowing himself to show he was worried about the player's fate. He'll then say something like "come on, let's go face that impostor" (escort mode).
Have you played the official plug-in named Helm of Tohan? If yes, you probably remember the two brothers outside the Daedric ruin, where the player is engaged in forced dialogue, in a way that it seems like the two brothers are having a conversation. If not, download it from Beth's site and check it out, it's free (good old times!). Anyway, that's what I imagined Mithras' and the bad guy's conversations should be before the finale. Don't make it a long dialogue, just short and full. In the end, Mithras (abandoning for a while his good self and seeking satisfaction in revenge) could say something like "I'm done talking, now I'll make you pay. The Telvanni way". Yeah, that's why I gave this title to the quest. After this, he slays him like a sheep.
And here's where the problem is; The room has to be relatively big in order to have enough of the stuff that's found in the boss' area (beds, chests, in this case extra chests with ebony etc) and at the same time provide enough space for Mithras and his opponent to battle it out without getting stuck on objects. Second, the player, although he'll lead Mithras in front of his enemy (escort mode), has to be far enough so that he's not affected by area effects of spells or stray shots. I'm mentioning this because I'd prefer to have the player's controls locked for the duration of the battle, to give the event that "personal" character. Upon the bad guys' death -which has to be ensured- the player will regain control of the pc.
What I see as a possible solution is to have the forced dialogue between Mithras and his enemy begin when Mithras and the player are far from the bad guy. Then, when the conversation between these two is over, the player's controls are locked, Mithras gets a ModFight 100 or a special script to instantly attack the bad guy, and he will only draw his weapon when he takes the first hit.
When the duel is over, the journal's updated, the player talks to Mithras and is asked to meet him back in Ranyon-ruhn. He is also invited to loot the place at will, along with the corpses of Rathra's lackeys. I'm also thinking that Mithras could allow the player to loot the ebony crates in the cave, feeling he deserves it for his efforts, and given that all the previous quests didn't offer much of a reward to the player. After all, he saved a town.
If you think otherwise, I suppose you can give a special ID to the ebony pieces that are in that room, both in crates and out of them and make a script that counts how many the player has stolen. When the player exits the cell and Mithras is back in Ranyon (enable the original NPC, disable his copy in the cave) won't let the quest get to an end, until the player hands to Mirisun as much ebony as he stole (or its price in gold).
When everything's set, Mithras will congratulate and thank the player, the miners will have changed their minds about Mirisun, Mirisun will be as happy as it gets and generally all of the town will be glad and thankful to its hero (in both dialogue and disposition). As a bonus, some characters could give the player extra gifts when the questline is over. Alasha Kori for example, the bartender, could give him a bottle of expensive liquor the first time the pc talks to her after the end of the questline. Galdasi Thendas could give him something small, but important to her, fitting to sneaky characters. She could also improve his standing among thieves (or Thieves Guild members). Mirisun Varen could have arranged with the miners that a couple of ebony pieces are not written in any ledger, but extracted from the mine and given as a gift for the player. Zuriel Dralor, the whining guy in the streets, could be even more whiny, recognising the pc's efforts but moaning for now being jealous of him. And they lived happily ever after...
------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think the overall flow of the questline is satifying, but your opinion counts a lot. As you can see I implemented your idea about Azariah's exposure, since it was practically flawless and filled some minor gaps. I don't think the player will have any questions left when he completes the questline, although you can add some dialogue to Mithras at the end, saying that Rathra's influence and lies spared her an untimely end of her career, if not her life, and that the captured secretary got reinstated by the council, because they wanted someone that knows he's not trusted, so he can be nothing but obedient (keep the enemies close etc).
One thing that has to be decided before you begin working is this; Will the quests of the questline have a prefix to recognise them easier in both the CS and the journal, like the guild quests? For example, instead of Drastic Measures -> Ranyon-ruhn's Mess: Drastic Measures, or something to indicate that these quests aren't "stand-alone" ones but parts of a specific questline. Personally, I'm in favor of naming the questline for organisation reasons.
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Post by Nomadic1 »

I like that questline. :] The last time I played Map 1 though, the nearest Almsivi intervention point was the temple at Ranyon Ruhn.
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Post by El Scumbago »

Glad to hear that Nomadic. If the nearest temple is Ranyon's one, I guess we'll have to change that part a bit. It may even end up very hilarious. Or, the secretary may not be that stupid and decide that entering imperial turf is safer. Dunno, we'll see. What's important atm, is that Lud checks this to implement the connection point between Ranyon's questline and the MQ.
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Post by Bloodthirsty Crustacean »

Wow, very awesome.

My only thoughts are: the final battle- it would be so, so good if we could pull that off, however how feasible it is I don't know. I'll give it a crack, but it's possible that some of the stuff may have to be cut down. We'll see how it goes.

Also, Quest 10 I will probably cut out, just because Vero Renim is a necessary NPC, and also it just adds an extra layer of 'waffle' to the quest that's unnecessary. Instead, Renim will always have been passing on the council's requests (rumours suggest that Rathra has a great deal of influence on the Council anyway, so all the refusals etc. are highly plausible still)

Instead, the PC will go to Port Telvannis, and speak with Renim who will say that he remembers overhearing Azariah Thelas being given said amulet, and the name of the cave. Same outcome, no risk to Renim, less constant escorting (the pack guar will be more than enough :P), and just less 'waffle'. Makes the whole thing a bit smoother.

Otherwise, I love it. Excellent work, Scumbago! :D
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Post by El Scumbago »

Thank you, I appreciate that a lot. Perhaps I could help with large quests after all, by writing scenarios and all that!

Just a small note though; I'd like Renim to be a part of this, at least a bit (because the questline was designed with this as a given). If you're still far from quest 10, can I try to work something out without sending Renim away from his chamber/room?
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Post by Bloodthirsty Crustacean »

Whatever you want man, I'm still not really ready to begin this main line yet, so tweak away. The main issue for me is that I want no way for the player to mistakenly kill Renim, and then blame us for breaking them joining House Telvanni.

And with regrads to writing questlines, feel free! At the risk of sounding arrogant, which is certainly not my intention, I'm really our only active (at least actively posting) quester, but I don't really have the knack for making up good stories on the fly. If I've got a sense of the NPCs I'm dealing with, I find it easier, which is why I'm keen to get involved with NPC creation for Map 2. However, a lot of the time I find it easier to just implement someone else's plan, so having active people come up with quest plans that can then be approved by Lud/Groza is always useful.
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Post by El Scumbago »

Quest making and scenario writing gets me confused too, when done simultaneously. But I'm in serious need of figuring out how to make scripts (better than the basic ones). I'd really like to help with complex quests and the like.
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Post by Bloodthirsty Crustacean »

I'm going to begin work on this very soon, so if you want to tweak, Scumbago, now's the time. Tweak now or forever hold your peace. :)

EDIT for pun.
a man builds a city
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a man melts the sand so he
can see the world outside


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Post by Bloodthirsty Crustacean »

Okay, here is the pre-final draft of this questline:

Quest 1 - A Town, A Lord, A Bunch of Trouble

Upon speaking to one of Ranyon's residents, the pc will be greeted with something like "What? Oh, I'm sorry %PCRace, I was lost in my thoughts. These are hard times for our town you see." or something similar. Pick a phrase (like 'hard times') and make a new topic of it, where the NPC will inform the player briefly about the recent income reduction of the mine, saying that he/she hopes Master Mithras will come up with something to help the town once more. A journal update advises the player to talk to Mithras.
If the player doesn’t belong to house Telvanni, Master Mithras will refuse to discuss the matter with him unless he hears that his subjects think well of the player. Journal update. To gain favor, the player must complete at least two of the three misc quests for Ranyon Ruhn (or all three, if the latter's hard to do). Note that there shouldn't be any hints informing the player to complete these quests, he should find out on his own. If you feel the player should have a clue, try to make it very vague.
If the player belongs to Telvanni, or if he completes the necessary quests, Mithras will accept to talk to him. He will admit that there's been a reduction of production and income and ask the pc if he'd care to help. The player can choose to accept or take his time to think about it. Either way, Journal update.
When the player accepts, Mithras will direct him to Azariah Thelas, the accountant, since he's busy to explain things in detail and Azariah may need assistance in his work. Mithras will say something like "I'm glad you wanna help, whenever you feel ready go see Azariah Thelas who lives there and does this and that, Gbye". Journal Update, end of quest. Perhaps we should include two Journal updates here, one that ends this quest and one that starts the next, to serve as a reminder for the player (like in the Dark Brotherhood's quests, in Oblivion).


Quest 2 - A Most Displeased Noble
Azariah Thelas will receive the player without too much joy (include something slightly sarcastic, like "Do you know anything about accountance? No? As I expected, another useless assistant"). He will inform the player about the situation, the few and displeased miners and the rest (without too much joy, as always) and advices the player to head to the mine and speak to the people there to see by himself what things are like. He also hands the pc some gold to deliver to Mirisun Varen down at the mine, as payment for the miners, while he thinks of ways the pc can be useful. Mirisun feels a relief, believing that the gold will calm down the miners for the time being and urges the player to talk with them. The miners won't hide their frustration, saying that Azariah and Mirisun are working together in stealing money. They believe Mirisun lies to them and forces them to work more so that he and his partner can steal more, while Azariah covers the whole thing, being the accountant of the mine.
Upon returning to Azariah, the pc will tell him of the situation and then he'll be tasked with ordering pickaxes to the merchant who has a bench next to the temple, Kobin Delas. Kobin informs the player that the delivery will take place after 2 days. This will automatically begin another quest (Quest 2.5 - A Late Shipment, see below).
Report to Azariah, who informs the pc that he hasn't any more work for the time being. The quest ends with Azariah telling the player to check with Mithras, who has called for him.
Try to keep Azariah's new dialogue consistent with the existing, presenting him as a disrespectful, whining and spoiled person who cares for nothing but himself, luxuries and relaxing.


Quest 2.5 - A Late Shipment
After 2 days' time since the pc ordered the pickaxes to Kobin Delas, his journal will update, telling him to check with the merchant about the delivery. Kobin Delas will reply that the shipment should be in his hands already and fears that the supplier has been assaulted or harmed by bandits. The player can ask (via choice) where was the supplier coming from (which town), so that the player will know which road to search on. Kobin will answer his supplier was coming from Gah Ouadaruhn. Pick a spot on that road to place a cart with a couple of crates on it, one of which must be cracked, with pickaxes that have fallen around (the cart and crates should be deactivated until this phase of the quest and deactivated again when it ends, so that the road doesn't get littered with statics). When the player's near the cart his journal updates and a bunch of thugs (also deactivated before this phase) appear and attack him. After killing them, the player must gather the pickaxes, get a journal update when he has all of them in his inventory, inform Kobin Delas who won't charge him anything for the shipment, and inform Azariah Thelas who will tell him to deliver them to Mirisun Varen. While Varen will be surprised that the supplier had been attacked but -obviously- not robbed, Azariah won't pay much attention when the player will return from the mine to receive payment for his trouble (Azariah will give him the money he would normally give to Kobin Delas). End of quest.


Quest 3 - Concerns of a Lord

Master Mithras welcomes the pc, asking him if he's ready for something more serious than minor chores (choice; yes/not right now). When the pc accepts, Mithras will tell him that he decided to ask the council for slaves once more. He will hand the pc a scroll, bearing his seal, to be given to a specific member of the council (I'd actually prefer a new NPC, something like a servant/secretary of the council that is responsible for such matters, humble and polite to no end). The pc is to travel to Port Telvannis and deliver the scroll to the NPC whom he's supposed to meet, instructed to insist in case of denial.
When the scroll is delivered, the pc will be asked to wait for a couple of hours - outside the room. When the two hours have passed, journal's updated and the pc has to go back into the room and meet the NPC, who will tell him that the council has no slaves to spare. As the pc was instructed to insist in case of denial, there should be a choice here, where the player can obediently accept the council's decision or doubt about the lack of slaves and ask to meet a member of the council at once. In the second case, the NPC will answer something like "Your predicted arrogance will have a serious impact on your Master, outlander. Leave this chamber and inform the lord of Ranyon-ruhn that his troubles are his own to bear and end. The council considers this matter closed. Have a nice day, n'wah". *Goodbye*
If the player attempts to speak to the NPC again, he will receive a negative greeting and a *Goodbye* instantly. Back to Mithras for report.
Mithras will not ask whether the player insisted or not, but his desperation will be obvious, given that he feels deserted. He will then ask the pc to meet him again after a day, during which he will try to come up with a solution.


Quest 4 - Drastic Measures
This quest should only be available after Quest 2.5 is finished. If the player attempts to speak to Mithras after Quest 3 is complete and a day has passed, but Quest 2.5 is still active, Mithras will tell him that he still has a task for Azariah to do. If all the conditions are met, Mithras will greet the player by saying that he learned of the incident and will consult Mirisun Varen and Azariah Thelas about it. In the meantime, since the council will send no slaves, the only solution is to hire more miners. The player needs to roam Ranyon-ruhn in search of possible employees. Manari Gildaren (see the main characters, above) is looking for work and the player can learn it either by talking to her, her brother (Brelar Gildaren) or by asking around (people will tell him only if their disposition is 60 or higher). Once agreeing with Manari, the pc will have to report to Mithras.

Note: Slowly revealing the relationship between Mithras and Rathra would be a nice extra. In the beginning of this quest, Mithras could say something like "It's no wonder the council denies me assistance. After all, they're in Rathra's pocket". A topic about Rathra can also be added so that the player can learn some more info in a way that they don't interrupt the flow of the quests.


Quest 5 - Chains and Daggers
With the recruitment of Manari Gildaren and the payment of the miners, production has slightly increased, but not by much, as Mithras will admit. The next job is to acquire a pair of slaves that Azariah arranged to buy from a passing Dres slave trader. The player is to see Azariah, get the gold for the slaves and learn where to meet the trader. The latter will be waiting for the pc on the road to Firewatch, north of Ranyon-ruhn. Once the transaction is done, the player will escort the slaves back to Ranyon only to be attacked by them when they're far enough from the slave trader. The slaves must be equipped with enchanted daggers and have their stats improved, given that they're unarmored. As for the part where they attack the player when the trader's out of sight, a script that counts distance would be the best solution imo. I suppose you can also make the script check for a cell change to make them attack, both would work.
Anyway, the slaves are slayed, the trader's nowhere to be found (disable), so the pc must return to Mithras and report. If he tells Azariah about it, he should meet a 'cold surprise', something like "Slaves, what else can one expect from beastfolk. I don't suppose you got the gold back, did you?". Mithras on the other hand will be surprised that a couple of helpless slaves carried enchanted blades. He teaches the player a healing spell and the quest ends.


Quest 6 - Seeds of Suspicion
Master Mithras has discussed the recent assasination attempts against the player with Mirisun Varen and decided to keep an eye on Azariah Thelas, since he was the one who arranged the slave transaction and knew about the pickaxe shipment. Given that Mirisun Varen was constantly in the mine, Azariah is the basic suspect. However, Mithras wishes for no-one to confront Azariah Thelas about these matters until he has more tangible clues in his hands.
For the time being, Mithras needs someone to lead a pack guar loaded with ebony from the mine, all the way to Port Telvannis. This is the part where the player needs to go to Ashamul and hire a pack guar (Ranyon-ruhn and Ashamul trade services and goods, which provides the residents of Ashamul some income). Here's the connection phase between Ranyon's MQ and Ashamul's guar theft quest. If this hasn't been done yet, read my suggestion below (Quest 6.5 - The Guar Thief). If Quest 6.5 hasn't been completed before this one, then the player will be forced to complete it in order to proceed. Once it's done, the player will be able to hire a pack-guar for free (as a gift for his efforts). He then goes to tell Mirisum of his success, who then gets some misc. off-screen peon to do the escorting.

Quest 6.5 - The Guar Thief
This is my suggestion for the Ashamul guar theft quest. I don't intend to change the original concept, just add a few things that will make it tie better with Ranyon and its quest. The caretaker of the guar pen will not hesitate to accuse Galdasi Thendas (the failed thief, see above) and the other residents of Ashamul will share that opinion, thinking that she may be better at stealing guars than valuable items. The player will need to ask the Ranyon guards, who will direct him to Simeth (saying something like "I don't waste time watcing over that loser, but Simeth's likely to know more"), the guy on top of the town's guard tower (or he can go straight to him). Simeth will reply that Galdasi hasn't left the town, let alone that stealing something living is far beyond the capability of someone who can't even steal some dirt. If asked, Galdasi will deny everything, claiming that if she could pull such a theft she'd run around the town shouting it. If you can blend these things with the original quest's design, it'd be great. If not, it's ok, these additions aren't that much of a necessity.

Quest 6.5 - An Offer She Can't Refuse
This is the sub-quest that will be started with Quest 7, when Mithras asks the player to visit Galdasi before going to Port Telvannis. He will be pretty much enigmatic, giving the player a verbal message to deliver to her ("Tell her that her Master offers a chance to improve her standing among thieves", or something similar).
Include a journal check here; if the player asks her before getting the papers from Port Telvannis, she'll say she needs some time to think about it. If the player has the papers, she'll accept at once. Report to Mithras for the quest to end.
Note that if you can make this quest begin earlier it will be better, since Quest 8 is about the trap where Galdasi is an active participant and it wouldn't seem right to have Mithras offer her the job just before it happens. Plus, it's nice when the player does something and sees the results of it later, saying "aah, so that's what that thing was about".


Quest 7 - Out of the Cauldron
When 3 days have passed since the end of Quest 7, Mithras will inform the player that, while the latter was away on various tasks, he took advantage of the distraction the player's investigations had caused and did a little investigation himself. Mirisun Varen's past was known to Mithras, as he knew the "mineboss" for quite some time. What he searched for was clues about Azariah's past, which proved to be rather well-covered and disturbing.
Now that Mithras has retrieved the info he suspected he'd find, he decides it's time to go on and arrest Azariah. However, although it's now obvious to Mithras that Azariah's been tweaking the ledgers to his liking, the council won't approve his arrest without tangible, hard evidence. The only way to convince them is to catch Azariah red-handed.
The player will ask how will this be achieved, only to be greeted by a grin and a suggestion to roam the streets of Ranyon ("The word's already on the streets, haven't you heard the rumors?" or something like this, suggesting that the player asks the Ranyon-ers about latest rumors).
Upon talking with anyone about that topic, he'll be told something like "omg, lolzzz, Galdasi's da m4st4 th13f, Simeth caught her selling stolen ebony!!11!1".
If the player goes to Galdasi's, he'll find her and a guard inside her house (he'll only say "don't worry, I'm watching her" *Goodbye*"), while Galdasi will be overjoyed with happiness ("Now everyone will know what I'm really about, I stole ebony from the stock, I'm famous" or something).
If the player speaks to Mirisun, he'll be out of control, only having a greeting with a *Goodbye*, not offering further dialogue. His greeting should be mere mumbling, like "How did that brat did this? I... I didn't spot a single shadow all this time... I... She... Argh, I'll kill her".
If the player talks to Simeth (always on the guard tower) about it, he'll get an answer like "Brilliant plan, this one. I only hope we don't fail the Master. Go on, it's your turn now". Pick a phrase as usual (example, "your turn"), to make a topic out of it. The player will then learn the plan; Galdasi was supposedly aided by an undiscovered, experienced partner who helped her steal ebony for the past 3 days. Of course, nothing's been stolen, it's all a setup to frame Azariah by claiming that he didn't write down the missing ebony pieces in his books. The whole point is that he won't have time to "correct" his ledgers in order to elude the trap, so the player is to visit him asap and ask him for the stocked ebony ledgers.
In an attempt to buy some time, Azariah (who must seem startled and surprised) will answer that he found them missing, along with several pieces of ebony. The player may have a couple of things that he can say to Azariah, like "Since when are thieves interested in ledgers?" or "This is suspiciously convenient, don't you think?" or "Why would you leave your books with the ebony crates?".
Once the player chooses one of the available comments, Azariah will give him a cheap excuse and the journal will be updated, making it impossible to select the rest of the comments. Not that it will matter, but I'd love to torment the player, making him load his game again and again in hope of picking an answer that may have immediate results!
After Azariah's excuse, the player will have a single available sentence to say, something like "Don't leave the place" or "I'll return after consulting x person on the matter".
Mithras will be eager to see this end. He'll say that Azariah's simply buying time that he can't use (or, "but I'll not sell any" - this is a favorite from Max Payne!) and order the player to bring Azariah before him for interrogation. By the time the player's back to Azariah's, he'll be gone (journal update upon entering). Before doing anything else, the player will also have to find and fetch Azariah's ledgers to Mithras. He'll need to find both the "official" and the private, the one where Azariah wrote the true amounts of extracted ebony and the amounts stolen by him. The journal should subtly suggest that there's a private ledger (something like "if Azariah was deep into this, I may also find evidence of his guilt"). Both ledgers should be deactivated until the player reached this part of the quest. Try to squeeze the secret ledger into some weird place (like Ajira's scrolls from the MG questline, which Galbedir had hidden).
Mithras will get close to having a heart-attack when he checks the amounts Azariah had secretly stolen. The player must quickly ask the guards if they saw something. They haven't and will direct him to Simeth, who also hasn't even though he was keeping an eye on Azariah's house and explains that he must have escaped via teleportation. Note that the player may also ask if anyone saw anything before he reports to Mithras, so that he doesn't get frustrated by the constant back-&-forth.
Mithras however doesn't wish for this to end so well for Azariah, but tracing him is impossible. He'll say that all the trouble is almost over and the only thing left is to find the accursed noble and the quest ends.


Quest 8 - Tracing the Traitor
The player is to go to Port Telvannis, meet with the council, explain the situation and require aid in capturing the escapee. He'll meet the infuriating secretary once again, who will be very surprised to hear the news and ask the player to wait for a couple of hours (as usually) outside the room.
After these hours have passed, the journal will update and the player will enter the room to find out that the secretary is gone. Asking around, he'll learn that he was seen reading a teleportation scroll Only a single person in the same or a nearby room should know this, the rest would suggest that the player asks a person who was near the secretary. The person who saw him couldn't remember if it was a Divine Intervention or Almsivi Intervention scroll, so the player has two questions he may ask; the whereabouts of the nearest temple and the whereabouts of the nearest Imperial Cult chapel. The player must use his sense here and see that a Telvanni wouldn't flee to Imperial territory.
Now, I don't know what the nearest temple is (I suppose that playing map1 and casting Almsivi Intervention from Port Telvannis will solve the question, but I was too lazy to do it - sorry).
Anyway, once the player arrives to wherever the temple is and asks around, he'll learn that a guy appeared, headed to the tavern and left the place with two bad-ass guys that he hired in a hurry. They'll give the player a direction and if he follows the road he should be able to find the three of them 3-4 cells away. A nice fight will occur (one thug's an archer, the other's a barbarian). When the thugs are dead the player will angrily ask the secretary about his role in the whole mess. He will answer that he'll say everything and plead to be spared. The pc needs to escort the secretary to Tel Aranyon, before Mithras (the player could also say something heroic/cool to intimidate the poor secretary, just for fun).
Mithras will be puzzled at first but when he hears that the secretary attempted to escape he will allow the player to interrogate him in front of him. Some angry attitude and catchy phrases may be in order here. In any case, the secretary will reveal that he never actually informed the council of anything, that he was working alongside with Azariah and had been following specific instructions for a long time. The player will then ask where did Azariah teleport. The secretary will answer that it's some sort of cave, the location of which he doesn't know because he had only went there via a remark amulet he had been given and always left the place using Intervention scrolls. If you think it fits the conversation, the player may ask why didn't he use his amulet instead of a scroll, and the secretary will answer that he didn't have it with him at the time.
As mentioned, he doesn't know the location of the cave but he knows the name. Pick a cave with criminals inside and make a topic about it which will be discuss-able with Mithras and the scout in Ranyon-ruhn (I forget her name). Mithras will direct the player to the scout while he arranges some other stuff. Once the pc returns, Mithras asks him that he storms the place and brings him Azariah, preferably alive, along with the man he serves (the secretary revealed to Mithras that Azariah was taking orders from someone). In the meanwhile, Mithras will send representatives to the council's members to inform them of the situation that has been going on for so long, right under everyone's nose.
Mithras -who has grown very fond of the player- will ask the pc to be extremely cautious in there and also gives him a personal enchanted item of his, a gift of Nataya Radasar's father (the dead father of the lady that's in front of Tel Aranyon, the one that Simeth likes). The item shouldn't be too special, but a Second Barrier spell along with Intelligence Fortification would be a nice combo imo. End of quest.
Note that this should better be a double journal update, one entry ends Quest 9 and the other starts Quest 10, the final one.


Quest 9 - Time to Pay, the Telvanni Way
The player must get loaded with armor and goodies and head to the cave as the scout instructed him. Once in, he simply needs to fight the bad guys (they should be somewhat hard, around lvl 20 would be good for a questline's final showdown).
Now, the layout of the cave may perhaps need to be altered to provide enough space for the final events, but that's a very small detail. In the final room, the player will come face to face with Azariah standing next to a powerful-looking guy, wearing heavy armor and a cool-looking robe (give it a special enchantment). He will not attack, unlike his lackeys, but will start a conversation with the player via forced dialogue. Here, the player will satisfy his curiosity as to who he finally is, how could he pull such a major trick, why did he pull it, what's his final goal and if he is in any way associated to Rathra.
As you may expected, he is a powerful wizard, expelled member of the House Telvanni and supporter of Rathra. Rathra was providing some little assistance in order to avoid attracting attention, and lots of info. The bad guy -under Rathra's guidance- wanted to undermine Ranyon's economy, make Mithras lose his position and, supported by his mistress, he would get reinstated, ascend to lordship, and in turn support her in realising her plans, using among other things the profits from the stolen ebony as well as what profits would come next from the mine.
He will then ask who was that snitched the cave's name, get infuriated with both the secretary's and Azariah's uselessness, end the dialogue and kill Azariah (who'd better have very little HP in order to die at once. I don't know what kind of scripting this will require, but I hope it's doable.
After killing Azariah, he will engage the pc in forced dialogue once again, announcing he'll kill him, then kill the secretary so that Mithras has no more evidence in his hands, and will start all over again. Before the *Goodbye* appears (where the journal will get updated), he'll shout two names, and a couple of previously disabled NPCs will get enabled and attack the pc. At the same time, Mithras will also appear and attack the two NPCs (a copy of Mithras to be exact, that when enabled will get in escort mode) He'd better be really powerful.
Once they're dead, Mithras will force-dialogue the player, revealing that he had overheard all of the conversation and joking about arriving just in time, allowing himself to show he was worried about the player's fate. He'll then say something like "come on, let's go face that impostor" (escort mode).
Have you played the official plug-in named Helm of Tohan? If yes, you probably remember the two brothers outside the Daedric ruin, where the player is engaged in forced dialogue, in a way that it seems like the two brothers are having a conversation. If not, download it from Beth's site and check it out, it's free (good old times!). Anyway, that's what I imagined Mithras' and the bad guy's conversations should be before the finale. Don't make it a long dialogue, just short and full. In the end, Mithras (abandoning for a while his good self and seeking satisfaction in revenge) could say something like "I'm done talking, now I'll make you pay. The Telvanni way". Yeah, that's why I gave this title to the quest. After this, he slays him like a sheep.
And here's where the problem is; The room has to be relatively big in order to have enough of the stuff that's found in the boss' area (beds, chests, in this case extra chests with ebony etc) and at the same time provide enough space for Mithras and his opponent to battle it out without getting stuck on objects. Second, the player, although he'll lead Mithras in front of his enemy (escort mode), has to be far enough so that he's not affected by area effects of spells or stray shots. I'm mentioning this because I'd prefer to have the player's controls locked for the duration of the battle, to give the event that "personal" character. Upon the bad guys' death -which has to be ensured- the player will regain control of the pc.
What I see as a possible solution is to have the forced dialogue between Mithras and his enemy begin when Mithras and the player are far from the bad guy. Then, when the conversation between these two is over, the player's controls are locked, Mithras gets a ModFight 100 or a special script to instantly attack the bad guy, and he will only draw his weapon when he takes the first hit.
When the duel is over, the journal's updated, the player talks to Mithras and is asked to meet him back in Ranyon-ruhn. He is also invited to loot the place at will, along with the corpses of Rathra's lackeys. I'm also thinking that Mithras could allow the player to loot the ebony crates in the cave, feeling he deserves it for his efforts, and given that all the previous quests didn't offer much of a reward to the player. After all, he saved a town.
If you think otherwise, I suppose you can give a special ID to the ebony pieces that are in that room, both in crates and out of them and make a script that counts how many the player has stolen. When the player exits the cell and Mithras is back in Ranyon (enable the original NPC, disable his copy in the cave) won't let the quest get to an end, until the player hands to Mirisun as much ebony as he stole (or its price in gold).
When everything's set, Mithras will congratulate and thank the player, the miners will have changed their minds about Mirisun, Mirisun will be as happy as it gets and generally all of the town will be glad and thankful to its hero (in both dialogue and disposition). As a bonus, some characters could give the player extra gifts when the questline is over. Alasha Kori for example, the bartender, could give him a bottle of expensive liquor the first time the pc talks to her after the end of the questline. Galdasi Thendas could give him something small, but important to her, fitting to sneaky characters. She could also improve his standing among thieves (or Thieves Guild members). Mirisun Varen could have arranged with the miners that a couple of ebony pieces are not written in any ledger, but extracted from the mine and given as a gift for the player. Zuriel Dralor, the whining guy in the streets, could be even more whiny, recognising the pc's efforts but moaning for now being jealous of him. And they lived happily ever after...




I have chopped out a couple of bits, and the old quest 7. The last two have remained untouched, as Scumbago may want some tweaking done there.

Soon I will have the revised last two up as well.
Last edited by Bloodthirsty Crustacean on Tue Oct 23, 2007 11:57 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by Bloodthirsty Crustacean »

BTW, is it too cheeky if the Argonian hitmen/'slaves' in quest five are called "Ohr-Reelei" and "Jah-Reelei"? :P

If that's a bit too much, I'll change the names. (One or both?)
a man builds a city
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a man melts the sand so he
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Post by Thrignar Fraxix »

change the names... please...
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Post by Bloodthirsty Crustacean »

Roger. I thought that was a bit high on the cheesy scale. :P

But you never know (and it's been a long day, and I have to keep m'self entertained somehow ;)).


In more serious news, in the course of today I have completed the first five quests. Only five more to go. Things are progressing nicely.
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theviking
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Post by theviking »

Yay, for the single quester! I wish I could help, but the quests are too complex for me to make or review.
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Currently looking for quest designers.
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Bloodthirsty Crustacean
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Post by Bloodthirsty Crustacean »

I have decided to scrap quest 7, "One More Check" (that was quest 8 before my re-jigging), as I feel it doesn't further the story and just results in some pointless wandering back and forth.

If anyone can think of a reason why it should stay, or a suitable replacement quest, I will put that in. But they better be quick. :)
a man builds a city
with
Banks and Cathedrals
a man melts the sand so he
can see the world outside


"They destroyed Morrowind? Fiddlesticks! Now we're going to have to rebuild it again!"
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Post by El Scumbago »

It's a relatively simple quest and indeed doesn't reveal anything new, but I wanted it to be there in order to;
1. Confuse the player as to what's happening.
2. Give more length to the questline.
3. Work as a small break from serious events, like the player being attacked or info getting revealed.
4. It's another chance to read some stuff about how bad Rathra is.
5. Rejection hurts me. :P
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Bloodthirsty Crustacean
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Post by Bloodthirsty Crustacean »

All good reasons, but I just don't like having the player go back and forth between Ranyon and PT too often (if at all). There's no travel service, so they've got to walk all the way to some other place with travel first etc.

I think it's best left out, m'self. But if you really want it in, do say.


EDIT: Progress update @ 4:00 PM (my time), Thurs Oct 25.

All quests 1-7 are now completed. Just awaiting Scumbago's work on 8 and 9, and verdict on old 7.
a man builds a city
with
Banks and Cathedrals
a man melts the sand so he
can see the world outside


"They destroyed Morrowind? Fiddlesticks! Now we're going to have to rebuild it again!"
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Post by El Scumbago »

Sorry, I'm late but I had some good workload with school and work, but I'll have this finished by tomorrow. Imo, travel services will be added (they have to), so travelling there won't be much of a problem. But even if it is, so what? Didn't Caius Cosades sent the player to all kinds of destinations? It was only used as a cooldown before he got him into more serious stuff. This reason alone is good enough for me, but if you're having second thoughts it'd be good to hear other opinions as well.

The most important question though, is if you playtested the quest so far and enjoyed it. I know your opinion may be totally subjective since you're the maker and all that, but still, your opinion carries lots of weight. It'd also be nice if you uploaded the work so far for us to check (in this thread).
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Bloodthirsty Crustacean
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Post by Bloodthirsty Crustacean »

Fine by me. Here are quests 1-7, with no testing as of yet. I always do that last, so I don't get hung up on bug-fixing too early. Regardless, if anyone does spot anything, please notify me.

As to Old Quest 7, I am more open to its inclusion now. When I had axed it, I was feeling burnt out having spent pretty much my entire day just working on this quest-line.

My only worry that remains is that I don't quite get why PT would have records that would possibly show up Azariah's. Surely theirs are just duplicates of his sent to them for filing?
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a man builds a city
with
Banks and Cathedrals
a man melts the sand so he
can see the world outside


"They destroyed Morrowind? Fiddlesticks! Now we're going to have to rebuild it again!"
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Post by El Scumbago »

Yes, it's just a way for Mithras to seem like checking on both Azariah and Mirisun, and maybe a small hope that there might be something. Didn't mean to burn you out though!
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Post by Bloodthirsty Crustacean »

Don't get me wrong, I agree with 90% of what you've said re: quest 7. Again, my only concern now is "why PT would have records that would possibly show up Azariah's. Surely theirs are just duplicates of his sent to them for filing?"

If you can explain that, or make some kinda way round it (perhaps tweak the quest a bit), I'll put it straight back in. (You may notice I kept the journal entries I'd done just in case ;))
a man builds a city
with
Banks and Cathedrals
a man melts the sand so he
can see the world outside


"They destroyed Morrowind? Fiddlesticks! Now we're going to have to rebuild it again!"
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Post by El Scumbago »

Because Azariah, or whoever does the job, may remove some ebony while the pack guar is far from Ranyon and PT and needs time to inform his associates in order to "fix" their books.
Maybe it's only Azariah who fixes the books and rests assured that Mithras won't get in the trouble of checking all that.
Maybe the PT guys have found flaws which Mithras isn't informed about.
Maybe, by chance, the player will come across something, anything.

That's what I can think of for now.
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Bloodthirsty Crustacean
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Post by Bloodthirsty Crustacean »

So the idea is that every now and then a Port Telvannis rep. comes and tots up the amount of ebony, and hopefully he's not in on it with Azariah? I can accept that.

I'll put it back in right now. :)

EDIT: It's back in, and you're right: I think it fits.
a man builds a city
with
Banks and Cathedrals
a man melts the sand so he
can see the world outside


"They destroyed Morrowind? Fiddlesticks! Now we're going to have to rebuild it again!"
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Post by Lud »

Hey BC could you give me the name of the journal entry that denotes you having completed this to Mithras' satisfaction? I kinda need it for the MQ.
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Bloodthirsty Crustacean
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Post by Bloodthirsty Crustacean »

That'll be "TR_m1_RR_MQ_10 1000" (that's 1000, not 100, not a typo)
a man builds a city
with
Banks and Cathedrals
a man melts the sand so he
can see the world outside


"They destroyed Morrowind? Fiddlesticks! Now we're going to have to rebuild it again!"
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