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]

There was one more quest in the mod that never had a tale attached to it, the main reason being that it was another one around Ystrel, and I'd already given her her own story. And there was Pala, who'd been mentioned in Svana's tale of the Lodge construction, but hadn't had one of her own. So I bent things together a little and let her tag along with the Hero on this one, even though she normally doesn't.

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Pala's Tale

"'Gudrun, come quickly" cried Pala. "Ystrel's bear came back without her!"

Gudrun leapt out of bed, dressing quickly. This was bad news of the worst kind - almost. Ystrel wasn't dead, or the bear wouldn't have come back at all. It would hunt down the person or creature that killed her. Then it would stay with her body, to guard it until someone came to collect it. The bear wouldn't have come back for help if there was anything else it could do for her. That must mean she was trapped somewhere the bear couldn't go.

Ystrel had been following a rumor of someone moving in to Valus Passage, the old smugglers' tunnel through the mountains to Morrowind. The tunnel had collapsed a long time ago, and it wasn't thought safe to try and dig it back out. That left a section at either end that led nowhere, but could still offer shelter to anyone who was up there.

Bandits weren't interested in it, as the area was hard to reach, and just about deserted now that the smuggling route was cut off. About the only thing that made any sense was that one of the religious cults had taken it over and put a shrine in there. The Daedric cults especially liked obscure locations for their shrines.

Gudrun checked the bear, and found no sign that it had been in any fights recently, which made her feel a bit better. It seemed agitated, as you'd expect with its rider missing, but that was all.

"What's up?" asked a voice behind them. The Hero of Kvatch had come by the Lodge and seen them all gathered around the bear. Pala quickly explained.

He'd go look for Ystrel, and Pala insisted on coming with him. Even if it was her time off patrol, she didn't want to stay at the Lodge while her colleague could be in danger.

Valus Passage wasn't easy to reach, as there aren't any trails that high up in the Valus Mountains. One reason, of course, for the smugglers using it in the past. They arrived in daylight, and they looked around the entrance for signs of a struggle. They really didn't expect to find any, as Ystrel's bear would have been involved in anything outside, and that fight would have been a lot more than anyone bargained for.

The door was clearly too small for the bear to have followed Ystrel inside. So their assumption was that she'd gone in, and was still in there. They should expect someone to be watching the door, so the Hero put on his Ring of Shadows, and told Pala to wait outside while he scouted the entrance.

He came back out only a minute later, with blood on his sword, and a red hood in his hand. "Mythic Dawn" he told Pala. "The same ones who killed the Emperor". There had been only the one guard in the small entrance chamber, but he wasn't sure if he'd raised an alarm before he died. They should assume he had, and move quickly in case Ystrel was still alive.

Chameleon's not useful when you're fighting as a team. You're much too likely to get hit if your partner can't see you, so he left off his ring when they went down the trapdoor in the chamber floor. Nobody was waiting beneath it, so perhaps the guard hadn't raised the alarm after all.

The passage down had many turns, and they were expecting to find more Mythic Dawn around each corner, but they reached the end of the tunnel without encountering anyone. That made no sense, so they backtracked, looking for any hidden entrances they'd missed. Pala noticed a handle in a corner that they hadn't seen before. When he nodded, she gave it a turn, and a section of the rock wall slid down ... noisily.

Shouts from the chamber they'd just revealed made it clear that the cult knew someone had come to visit them. Weapons drawn, they stepped through the opening into a medium-sized cave where three acolytes with daggers and summoned axes charged at them. Either Pala or the Hero could probably have taken them all solo, as they had only their robes for armor, and they weren't particularly skilled at fighting. But they pressed the fight anyway, and soon paid for their fanaticism.

"It won't be this easy further in" the Hero told Pala. "Expect the guards to summon armor as well as weapons, and know how to use them."

There was only one other exit from the cave, and they followed the tunnel to a locked door. A side-passage just before it revealed another acolyte hiding at the end, and they took a key from her that fit the lock.

This time, there was nobody waiting when they opened the door. Pala was sure this was a good thing, as whoever had Ystrel didn't know they were coming.

The tunnel past the door was just as twisting as the first part, but not as empty. This time, they did meet Mythic Dawn as they progressed, and armored ones, just like the Hero had predicted. They hit another dead end, and backtracked a little, but soon they saw they were approaching a larger chamber. They could see a raised area at the end, and several guards rushing towards them.

Desperately hoping they weren't too late to save Ystrel, whom they still hadn't found, they engaged their foes, aided by a Clannfear the Hero summoned. The fight was short and loud, and if Ystrel was anywhere close, she must have heard them. Why didn't she call out?

The raised area they'd seen as they entered held a statue of Mehrunes Dagon, just like the one at the Lake Arrius Caverns. There appeared to be an altar in front of it.

When they climbed the stairs to the platform, they saw Ystrel lying on the altar, naked, and surrounded by several nasty-looking implements that revealed the Dawn's intentions. Pala nearly fainted when she saw the small spiked club and figured out how they were going to use it.

Ystrel was unresponsive when the Hero tried to wake her, but she wasn't dead. He cast dispel on her, and she opened her eyes. He'd guessed correctly that she'd been under a paralysis spell. That was a a favorite with torturers, as it didn't stop the victim from feeling any pain, just from reacting to it.

Pala discretely hid the spiky thing, so that Ystrel wouldn't see it. Ystrel got up quickly from the cold stone slab, and went over to the brazier nearby to get some warmth, so she didn't notice any of the other knives, hooks and tongs lying on the altar with her. Pala moved in front of them, and the Hero picked them up.

"Have you seen my armor and things?" asked Ystrel. "It's cold in here." While they were looking around, she told them what had happened.

She'd been hit with the paralysis spell as soon as she stepped through the door. The guard had called the others, and they'd carried her down here. Some of them had argued that she should be killed immediately, but the others didn't want to waste a potential sacrifice to Dagon. There were so few people that ventured this far up into the Valus Mountains, they might not get another chance for months.

So she'd been stripped, and laid on the slab. She could hear discussions on how the sacrifice should be performed, and she was glad that none of them had survived. She'd have done to them what they wanted to do to her, and she wasn't sure she could live with herself after that.

A chest at the base of the platform held the armor and claymore they were seeking, and soon Ystrel was back in uniform. The Frost Shield enchantment on her armor drove away some of the chill she felt, but it wasn't all physical, so she was still shivering as they left the cave.

Back at the Riders Lodge, Gudrun sent her downstairs with Timo to get warm. She told Pala that she'd get a bonus for her part in the rescue, including extra days off to make up for what she'd missed. But she wasn't authorized to reward the Hero, unless he was a member of the Riders. With a wink at Pala, she asked if he'd like to join them, as an honorary Rider.

When he asked what his duties would be, she rolled her eyes, and the two women dragged him downstairs to show him. As they passed Ystrel's door Gudrun called out to her."Give us an hour, and its your turn to rescue him!"

This post has been edited by ghastley: Apr 11 2012, 09:39 PM