Does this thread belong here?, pieces of quest Options

[ghastley]

Most of the threads in this forum are naturally about "my character's adventures in a TES world", and the rest are meta-threads about writing them.

I'm coming from a completely different direction, or maybe not. I'm trying to create quest mods for Oblivion with a whole lot of NPC's who have linked stories, and I need all the help I can get with those. It's not entirely a different problem from writing the support cast in a regular FF, but it does leave out the central character, who will be the player, and I don't want to write that one.

I like to build a character in Oblivion and play it for a while before making an NPC from it, as this helps to give me some idea of how a pure mage thinks, or an archer, or an axe-wielding Orc, and I can make the NPC more credible that way. I'm currently playing a stereotypical big dumb blonde Nord called Hidy Heidi, who aspires to joining the Imperial Mountain Riders and patrolling the Jerrals on a white bear. I started her off trying to use poisoned daggers and stealth, but found that it's not too viable at low levels, because the damage she could inflict was never enough for a one-hit kill, and using a dagger put her too close for comfort in the remainder of the encounter. So she switched to a Claymore to better use her Blade skill, although she still tries a sneak attack with a dagger first, some of the time. She'd probably use the Claymore if she got a bear to ride, so maybe it's for the best.

This experience now has to be distilled down to some dialog for the NPC in-game, and that of her colleagues, and that's the sort of thing I'd want to post here for criticism and advice. And the content of books, notes, journal entries for the quests. Many of you have experience of rewriting bits of lore for your narratives, or fitting a new piece into the incomplete jigsaw puzzle Betheda provided, so I know it will help me if it works.

Heidi is intended to become part of this mod, of which only the first two quests have been released as a beta. I have another dozen or so in development, including an arc of quests that happen after the player is both CoC and Madgod, based on the idea of Dagon taking revenge on the player by opening gates in his/her new realm.

[ghastley]

I'm trying to get myself thinking about this one again, so let's see a piece of the story from another viewpoint.

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Eugenie's tale

She particularly liked it when Prietus did that. "Don't stop now," she pleaded, but he was no longer paying any attention to her. He was staring at a glowing disc that had just appeared in the far corner of the chamber beyond the grating. When a Clannfear emerged from it, he was snatching up his robe, and running for the exit.

"Come back, you coward" she shouted. He didn't know the chamber was sealed whenever the trap was open, but she'd forgotten that. She jumped a little when the shock spell killed the Clannfear, it was so loud and so close, and she was so naked. She picked up her own robe and pulled it around her, and walked round the corner to the gate.

She watched as a Scamp, and a Dremora came out of the portal and each was killed instantly. But then a pair of women in strange dark armor emerged together. One died almost immediately, but the other dodged back into the gate before the stone could recharge.

Shortly after, a strangely dressed man appeared from the fiery disc. The trap did nothing, so this wasn't another Daedra. He walked calmly over and addressed her.

"My name is Haskill, Chamberlain to the Lord Sheogorath, who is presently in Cyrodiil," he said. "Perhaps you would be so good as to convey to him that he is needed. Here. As quickly as possible".

Eugenie didn't know any Lord Sheogorath, but Haskill described the man she knew as the Hero of Kvatch. And he was visiting the University that very day. She ran off to find him.

The Hero knew who Haskill was. As he walked together back to the chamber with Eugenie, he tried to explain to her how he'd inherited the title of the Daedric Prince. He could see she just didn't believe half of the story. "That's just too weird!"

When they reached the gate, the Hero had her close the trap, so he could go through. He spoke briefly with Haskill, and then picked up the body of the Mazken, as he called her, and took her with him into the glowing disc. Haskill just disappeared, startling Eugenie a little.

---

She went looking for Prietus. She was still mad at him for running off and leaving her, even though she knew she hadn't been in any real danger. The point was that if he didn't know that, he should have stayed to protect her. She found Malandil instead.

Malandil listened to her thoughtfully. Eugenie didn't know about Prietus' previous encounter with Clannfears, so she didn't know why they were a special nightmare for him. She told her all about his ordeal in Sardavar Leed, and reminded her why he'd been sent there in the first place. And her part in that.

"But that wan't me, that was my father's spell," protested the apprentice. "Although I suppose I am judging him too harshly."

"We'll go look for him together," suggested Malandil. "I think we might cure him of that Clannfear phobia, if I just teach him to summon one of his own."

"But that's an Expert spell, isn't it?" asked Eugenie.

"Yes, and he's nearly ready to learn it. Don't forget that Conjuration is his major field of study, so he's more advanced than you. Just as you're further ahead with Destruction."

Eugenie wasn't anywhere near Expert in Destruction, so she was impressed.

---

A couple of days later, a large Nord woman, wearing the skimpiest armor Eugenie had ever seen, came to the University asking for her. She'd been sought out by one of the worshippers from Sheogorath's shrine, telling a tale that was too strange not to be true.

The hero wanted her to go through the portal in the Ayleid Chamber and join him in the Shivering Isles. "Is that where it goes?" Eugenie asked.

"Not directly" was the reply. "There's a plane of Dagon's Deadlands in between, but the Mazken have that guarded now, so it's the quickest way to get there."

There was that "Mazken" name again. Eugenie knew they must be Daedra, as the trap had killed one, but they seemed to be on the wrong side. Heidi (that was the Nord woman's name) explained that they were Daedra from Sheogorath's realm, not Dagon's, and not really on anyone's side but Sheogorath's. Like the Aureals, except that they were in conflict with the Mazken. Eugenie was now even more confused.

"Dagon's sent his Daedra to fight against Sheogorath's Daedra. Since the Hero of Kvatch, and Champion of Cyrodill, is also currently acting as Madgod of the Shivering Isles, he's trying to toss Mehrunes Dagon out of there, too."

Eugenie wanted to know how Heidi was involved. "They've found a Mythic Dawn agent plotting with the Zealots and they think it's someone I know." she replied. "I need to go and identify the body."

By this time, they'd reached the chamber. Heidi stepped through the flames and was gone. Eugenie went to the switch and opened the trap up again.

---

A few days later the fiery portal disappeared as mysteriously as it came. One moment it was there and the next, it wasn't. There was no sign that anything had been there. The bodies of the Daedra had been removed long ago, and the Scamp skin, Clannfear Claws and Daedra Hearts were already made into useful potions in the Lustratorium. Life had returned to normal.

Except that Prietus had learned to summon Clannfears, and was working his way back into favor with Eugenie. He was helping her with her Destruction practice. He'd summon a Scamp and she'd dispatch it with a shock spell or two before it could turn on them. They couldn't do that continuously yet, neither had the Magicka for it, so there were times when they just had to wait around for it to regenerate. And what do two young mages do while they're waiting?

---

She particularly liked it when Prietus did that.


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Those who've worked on advancing their Conjuration and Destruction know that the latter is much slower to increase. You can get experience with Conjuration just by repeatedly casting a simple spell, but Destruction needs a live target or it doesn't count. So it's a bit less impressive than Eugenie thinks. Of course, she's not thinking clearly where Prietus is involved.

This post has been edited by ghastley: Oct 2 2014, 08:58 PM