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> Gweden Brothel, an ever-growing series of side-quests
ghastley
post Mar 2 2012, 11:29 PM
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I'm starting a thread in this section so I can move discussion of the development out of the Fiction thread.

The Red Dragon Club arc of quests is getting another one added, related to the attempt on the life of the Mane. The player manages to head off one assassin, but there may be others (which means I can use the same idea multiple times!) The Bosmer woman (archer) that was recruited to do the job is persuaded to join the staff of the Club instead. I just have to fix a few bugs in the AI packages for her Khajiit handler and then I may put up another file at the Nexus, and let a few more folks try it.

Latest version of the Freija poster

This post has been edited by ghastley: Sep 20 2018, 04:17 PM


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Acadian
post Mar 3 2012, 01:43 AM
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And the Gweden saga continues into brothelesque proportions! Now we have the Red Dragon house of delights as well – with its own quests. Sounds like great fun! smile.gif

Recruiting the Bosmer assassin to work in the brothel gives credence to the old saying, 'Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.' wink.gif

The Arena poster really fits with Freija’s story! goodjob.gif


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ghastley
post Mar 10 2012, 03:52 PM
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Next quest in the pipeline is going to involve the Orc - Sugar gra-Mazog - coming to the city on temporary assignment to "entertain" the Orcish Ambassador. Gortwog is pressing the Elder Council for recognition of Nova Orsinium as a full province, but Uriel Septim VII had been stalling, not wanting to offend the other rulers in High Rock.
The Red Dragon Club wants to be prepared with an Orc on the staff.

I'm still trying to come up with a part for the player in this, that's more than just a messenger. One option is an escort job, as the Ambassador has to come into Cyrodiil at a port like Anvil or Leyawiin. Since Orsinium has no direct border with Cyrodiil, that lets me rule out a land route which would require passage through another province.

There are a few other, not necessarily incompatible options. One is for the Ambassador to be female, and a Breton. Orsinium has an alliance with Wayrest (Queen Elysana) and Gortwog is as devious as they come. A staged kidnapping of the Ambassador might be designed to embarass the Elder Council into an appeasing gesture. Player would thwart this either by preventing the "capture" or by staging a rescue afterward.

The kidnapped person could also be someone other than the Ambassador, such as his "wife" - i.e. not his real spouse, but acting the part. Sugar gets more of a part in this scenario, as she's the one who notices the Ambassador's not as worried about it as he should be.

End result should be status quo. No change for Orsinium, Abassador returns with nothing.



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Acadian
post Mar 11 2012, 01:39 AM
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Sorry can't be of any real help here. You nailed the two prime candidates: An escort or rescue mission for the Hero. smile.gif


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ghastley
post Mar 11 2012, 10:20 PM
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I couldn't decide between escort or rescue, so of course it became both. Details here.

This ends up with the fake wife as a recruit for the club, which gives me a reasonably full staff. Now I can fill in between these quests with a few more pretenders to the throne.

And the latest cut is now up at TESNexus, so it can get a workout.

This post has been edited by ghastley: Mar 16 2012, 04:16 AM


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ghastley
post May 15 2012, 01:00 AM
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It occurred to me that the possible heirs to the Empire wouldn't conveniently all be in Cyrodiil, so I had Taminwe visit Senchal while the player investigated Leyawiin. I couldn't have her do all the junket trips, so I wrote a piece of the story for the Fan Fiction section that has my reporter going over the border into Skyrim to investigate a potential claimant. Since the location of Falkreath is so close to the border that the land (and trees etc.) already exist on the Oblivion map, I decided to make it playable and build a town there. It means that you have to turn borders off to play there, but it doesn't have to be a required quest in the series, any more than you need to add the SI parts.

Map of Falkreath in-game

There are four homes, a smithy, a tavern, a chapel and a guard tower. Although the story crosses over with my Mountain Riders, I don't want to make the mods depend on each other, so there's a bear trainer living in Falkreath as a reference to the other mod, but no shared characters. Jokull in the other mod talked of going back to Falkreath after delivering Claudia's bear, but he won't be there. He's a merchant, so he travels a lot.

Bear (not quite Bare) Trainer

The City guards were going to be Nords, but I discovered that all the dialog for city guards (including "criminal scum" references) was restricted to Imperials, so they got changed. I used the Falkreath insignia from UESP Skyrim to overlay the Leyawiin Stallion and produce a uniform for them. There's a single-cell jail in case you need it.

Falkreath guard uniform

As well as the two characters of the story, I needed a few more residents, so there are about a dozen NPC's, all of which needed dialog, AI packages, etc. I'm still working on the script for the quest, which has a few thorny problems where I'm trying to do something new.

There's more I could add, but I'll save the rest until you've read about it from the reporter's perspective, and I can explain what changes between the fiction and the playable.

Edit: I decided to make this a bridge mod, using the other two as masters. It was just getting too difficult to avoid using the NPC's etc. from Gweden and the Bear Riders. So Jokull may show up later, and other characters like Gudrun and Taminwe can play a part in the quests.

This post has been edited by ghastley: Nov 22 2017, 06:46 PM


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Acadian
post Jun 3 2012, 12:03 AM
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Sorry I somehow missed your latest update adding Falkreath right over the border. What a fabulous idea! goodjob.gif

I love the guard uniform. If I understand correctly, you are saying the small Falkreath mod is not going to be a standalone? We’re not looking to run a brothel and Buffy’s not busty enough to ride bears, but I do like the idea of a conveniently reachable Skyrim town. Regardless, I love that you are branching out cross-border. smile.gif


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mALX
post Jul 25 2012, 06:26 AM
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I missed this somehow! You do such an intricate job with your mods, no stone is left unturned! You must be very detail oriented! This mod sounds like a ton of fun !!


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ghastley
post Jul 27 2012, 07:04 PM
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@Acadian: Yes, it needs the assets from the other mods, so can't be a stand-alone. If I'd thought about it early enough, I could have built a Falkreath.esm that just adds the town, but I didn't.

----

Latest quest in planning:

In Skyrim (which I don't have, but the UESP Wiki does!) there's a book by Lathenil of Sunhold - Rising Threat - that deals with the Thalmor's early days. In it, there's this

I would follow after Rynandor and help him restore his reputation and status. We would then return to best the Thalmor at their own game and win back the mores and morals of the Altmer! The rest of my cabal would stay on Summerset Isle and win the trust of the Thalmor on whatever level best suited each of them, sending clandestine missives to me when possible.

After weeks of painstaking investigations and exorbitant bribes, I was able to learn that Rynandor was placed on a ship to Anvil. I booked my own passage to Anvil. My search almost ended there, for Rynandor had never arrived in Anvil Harbor. My instinct that Rynandor met a duplicitous end was confirmed when I sought out several of the deckhands who were reported to be aboard Rynandor's vessel. All died under mysterious and violent circumstances.

The first of many attempts on my life occurred soon after. Needless to say, I survived, but my grand plan to stymie the Thalmor fell apart without an esteemed leader to rally behind. I went into hiding, waiting anxiously for word of the Thalmor's activities back on Summerset Isle.


The timing is just after the Oblivion crisis ends, so Lathenil would arrive in Anvil a few weeks or months after. I plan to have the Champion go down to Anvil to meet Lathenil, and get involved in thwarting the attempt to kill him. Currently thinking that it will be a hired assassin, using chameleon and a poisoned dagger. Lathenil will see him (ring of detect life) and shoot first. I want to have him arrested, but I haven't worked out how to do that yet.

This post has been edited by ghastley: Jul 27 2012, 07:12 PM


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mALX
post Jul 28 2012, 08:15 AM
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This sounds really interesting! What will the Player have to do? I like the sound of this one!


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Acadian
post Jul 29 2012, 12:08 AM
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mALX is right, that sounds like an interesting quest for the Champion. Good luck bringing it to life!


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ghastley
post Aug 2 2012, 07:39 PM
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@mALX: So far, the player just goes to Anvil and talks with Lathenil. I have the Altmer walking up and asking him if he's seen Rynandor, and accusing the Thalmor of being behind Rynandor's disappearance. The conversation ends when Lathenil spots the assassin and hurls a fireball at him. I was then going to script a guard coming over and arresting Lathenil, and the player would visit him in prison.

However, I can't (yet) stop the guards from killing Lathenil! The "Special combat" flag in the faction that he and the assassin are in (and the player temporarily, in case he gets friendly fire) doesn't appear to stop the guards interfering, the way it does in the Dark Brotherhood quests with J'Ghasta or Ungolim fighting the player in the streets of Bruma or Bravil.

If I get past this problem, then the player will have to survive a few attacks by assassins himself over the next few days. He'll report back about the infighting in the Summerset Isle, but without knowing who are the "bad guys" - just that Lathenil's group are not on the same side as the Thalmor. I may even plant a suspicion that Lathenil is involved in the Enilwen/Mane incident, or the trouble in Valenwood.


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mALX
post Aug 2 2012, 07:46 PM
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QUOTE(ghastley @ Aug 2 2012, 02:39 PM) *

@mALX: So far, the player just goes to Anvil and talks with Lathenil. I have the Altmer walking up and asking him if he's seen Rynandor, and accusing the Thalmor of being behind Rynandor's disappearance. The conversation ends when Lathenil spots the assassin and hurls a fireball at him. I was then going to script a guard coming over and arresting Lathenil, and the player would visit him in prison.

However, I can't (yet) stop the guards from killing Lathenil! The "Special combat" flag in the faction that he and the assassin are in (and the player temporarily, in case he gets friendly fire) doesn't appear to stop the guards interfering, the way it does in the Dark Brotherhood quests with J'Ghasta or Ungolim fighting the player in the streets of Bruma or Bravil.

If I get past this problem, then the player will have to survive a few attacks by assassins himself over the next few days. He'll report back about the infighting in the Summerset Isle, but without knowing who are the "bad guys" - just that Lathenil's group are not on the same side as the Thalmor. I may even plant a suspicion that Lathenil is involved in the Enilwen/Mane incident, or the trouble in Valenwood.



Can you make him essential till a certain stage of the quest? This sounds like a great quest !!


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ghastley
post Aug 2 2012, 08:41 PM
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If he's essential, he still gets into a fight with the guard, which I want to prevent.

I haven't decided where Lathenil should "go into hiding" as he writes in Rising Threat III "I went into hiding, waiting anxiously for word of the Thalmor's activities back on Summerset Isle." One possibility is Gweden Farm! Especially if I have Silanu help him work on his anger management.

His narrative indicates that he survived longer than Ocato, and only got to meet him just before he was assassinated in 4E10 if his "decade of machinations" is an accurate figure. That should make him a useful character for other quests, if I can think of them.


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mALX
post Aug 2 2012, 09:23 PM
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QUOTE(ghastley @ Aug 2 2012, 03:41 PM) *

If he's essential, he still gets into a fight with the guard, which I want to prevent.

I haven't decided where Lathenil should "go into hiding" as he writes in Rising Threat III "I went into hiding, waiting anxiously for word of the Thalmor's activities back on Summerset Isle." One possibility is Gweden Farm! Especially if I have Silanu help him work on his anger management.

His narrative indicates that he survived longer than Ocato, and only got to meet him just before he was assassinated in 4E10 if his "decade of machinations" is an accurate figure. That should make him a useful character for other quests, if I can think of them.


Will that conflict with your ridable bears mod? (Since Ocato is very active in that one).

Raising the guards disposition toward Lathenil if the player attacks him won't work, they will kill the player.


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ghastley
post Aug 3 2012, 12:22 AM
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QUOTE(mALX @ Aug 2 2012, 04:23 PM) *

Will that conflict with your ridable bears mod? (Since Ocato is very active in that one).

No, the report to Ocato, via the Red Dragon Club, will be that Lathenil is a bit crazy and probably to be avoided at present. It will take a lot of additional evidence against the Thalmor before he gets Ocato's ear. That's one reason for the assassins taking an interest in the player - to make association with Lathenil dangerous.

I just moved the action from outside on the docks to inside the Count's Arms, and no guards burst in to make a nuisance of themselves! biggrin.gif Now I need to bring in a guard that will arrest him, rather than attack, and I can get on with the rest of the quest.


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mALX
post Aug 3 2012, 12:28 AM
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WOO HOO !!! Congrats on figuring that out, I was sure stumped, lol. This quest sounds really fun !!


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ghastley
post Aug 5 2012, 01:04 AM
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Nothing is ever simple in mod-making. kvleft.gif

Once I got the fight to happen without interruption, I discovered that nine times out of ten, they'd end up running up the stairs at the back of the bar, as Lathenil's AI made him retreat to cast spells. Then when the guard came in to arrest him, he couldn't find him at the top of the stairs! He'd get stuck in the corner at the bottom, trying to walk through the wall. sad.gif

Fixed that by changing Lathenil's combat preferences. Now the fight happens in the middle of the room, and Lathenil's where the guard can reach him. smile.gif

Then the guard would just run up to him and say "Hello", instead of "Stop criminal scum!" - several iterations of script and AI changes before that was fixed.

And having arrested Lathenil, he has to escort him off to the jail. The guard decided that the straight-line path was quickest, so he led Lathenil onto the deck of the Clarabel, and stopped at the rail, staring across at the Castle. I abandoned the full escort, and just disabled the player controls until they left the Count's Arms, and moved them directly to jail (do not pass Go, do not collect...) before giving the player control back to go visit him in his cell.

Then it took forever to get the Assassins that attack the player to reach him without getting into fights with patrols or citizens on the way. Since I have no control over where the player chooses to go, the assassins have to find him, so I couldn't just place them somewhere harmless. And then they just said "Hello", like the guard. Different fix this time, because I needed them to start a fight.

Nearly there, just a few more tests needed, for fast travel and detours. If the assassins get stuck somewhere, the quest won't end, so I have to detect that and move them...


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mALX
post Aug 5 2012, 01:31 AM
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QUOTE(ghastley @ Aug 4 2012, 08:04 PM) *

Nothing is ever simple in mod-making. kvleft.gif

Once I got the fight to happen without interruption, I discovered that nine times out of ten, they'd end up running up the stairs at the back of the bar, as Lathenil's AI made him retreat to cast spells. Then when the guard came in to arrest him, he couldn't find him at the top of the stairs! He'd get stuck in the corner at the bottom, trying to walk through the wall. sad.gif

Fixed that by changing Lathenil's combat preferences. Now the fight happens in the middle of the room, and Lathenil's where the guard can reach him. smile.gif

Then the guard would just run up to him and say "Hello", instead of "Stop criminal scum!" - several iterations of script and AI changes before that was fixed.

And having arrested Lathenil, he has to escort him off to the jail. The guard decided that the straight-line path was quickest, so he led Lathenil onto the deck of the Clarabel, and stopped at the rail, staring across at the Castle. I abandoned the full escort, and just disabled the player controls until they left the Count's Arms, and moved them directly to jail (do not pass Go, do not collect...) before giving the player control back to go visit him in his cell.

Then it took forever to get the Assassins that attack the player to reach him without getting into fights with patrols or citizens on the way. Since I have no control over where the player chooses to go, the assassins have to find him, so I couldn't just place them somewhere harmless. And then they just said "Hello", like the guard. Different fix this time, because I needed them to start a fight.

Nearly there, just a few more tests needed, for fast travel and detours. If the assassins get stuck somewhere, the quest won't end, so I have to detect that and move them...


How did they do it with the Bleak Mine guards? Or Sithis's ghost/the Miscarand Lich? Those three follow the player anywhere he goes and attack him. So does that Khajiit from the Collector questline if you don't pay him his share. (Oh! And Audens)



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ghastley
post Aug 5 2012, 02:19 AM
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I don't think any of those (except the Wrath of Sithis) affect the progress of the quests. I may have to take the same approach and detach the assassin's deaths into a separate quest.

The Wrath of Sithis is a special case here, because it is the entire re-instatement quest, and nothing else depends on it.



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