Breakdown of the ''Talos Cult'' Quest

[Razorwing]

Edit: Razorwing - This is a quest that I and Deus developed and created in august 2004 for Silgrad Tower: Morrowind. Posted on august 23rd. I'm rather fond of it, and would like to keep it with me for inclusion in Oblivion. Below is the original guide I wrote to the Morrowind quest; any ideas on how it can be modified to fit better with OST?


Breakdown of the ''Reich Parkeep Talos Cult'' Quest
(sltw_ds_rp_taloscult)
Developed by Deus and Razorwing

This is intended as a modder's guide to the quest, so that it'll be more easily understood in the future if work is done that affects it.

Step 1. Finding the murdered guard.
Ricius Teronium, an Imperial guard in the Red Dragon legion, left town the night before for his usual fishing trip to the creek north of Reich Parkeep. The quest begins when you find his corpse near the creek.
Notes: That's why he's equipped with a fishing pole. If you're a member of the Legion but lack a Legion Uniform, grab the shield lying next to him and equip it, otherwise you won't be able to talk to any Imperial guards.

Step 2. Reporting the murder.
(Quest topic is ''guard'')
The guards in Reich Parkeep nudges you to talk to Mercurio Sirollis in the Legion Keep, who identifies the murdered guard as Ricius Teronium, and urges you to investigate his belonging and talk to others in the Legion Keep, to find clues as to who he was and who could have murdered him.

Step 3. Interviewing the legionnaires.
(Quest topic is ''Ricius Teronium'')
The legionnaires in the Legion Keep have different things to say about him, but it's the Master-at-Arms in the basement who lead you forward by saying that Ricius Teronium's best friend is Coralus Linorium, and that he might have valuable information to help in your investigation. He's stationed on the wall outside the Legion Keep, and you're nudged to go and talk to him.

Step 4. The Coralus incident.
(Quest topic is ''Coralus Linorium'')
When you step outside the Legion Keep an incident takes place that leads to Coralus untimely death. The only clue you're left with now is a ripped piece of silk fabric, which must have come from the murderer. Report the incident to Mercurio in the Legion Keep and he'll suggest you interview the local seamstresses and tailors and see if anyone recognize it.

Step 5. The ripped silk fabric evidence.
(Quest topic is ''seamstresses and tailors'')
There are three people in Reich Parkeep who works in this field. Jer'Hill is your first lead, which you'll get straight from Mercurio if you ask him. He's not very keen to discuss it with you, apart from denying that he has anything to do with it. Talking to others can lead you to Natia Serian, who claims to have information for you... but she wants a 'donation' in order to reveal it. You have four choices in how to respond to her; one gives no information, two result in lies, and the final one gives you the real clue.
Notes: Each response has its own journal entry, so the player only has one chance to get the clue without reloading.

Step 6. The mysterious seamstress.
Sethalia Rymynnya turns out to be the seamstress who made the silk attire which the murderer wore. Sethalia hasn't been very successful as a seamstress, with Jer'Hill drawing most customers, so she doesn't run a regular store. Having so few customers, she won't have a problem remembering who she sold it to.
Notes: Whatever choices are made in step 5, you can still go forward by talking to Sethalia; you can go forward talking directly to her as well.

Step 7. Garreth - an innocent pawn?
Garreth is the murderer, but he'll deny it until you show him the silk fabric evidence, so you actually need to have the evidence in your inventory for the quest to go forward. Confronting him, you'll get five choices on how to act against him. You can a) tell him you'll let him go if he talks b) threaten to kill him if he doesn't talk c) execute him d) arrest him e) do nothing. Cutting a deal with him, by not arresting or executing him, will give you clues of varying quality on how to proceed with the endgame, but you won't get the 'best' ending.

Step 8. The Talos Cult
(Quest topic is ''Talos Cult'')
If you arrested Garreth and led him to Mercurio, you'll be thanked but told to go back to his manor and deal with the rest of the Talos Cult. If you executed him, you'll have to use your wits in order to gain access to the teleporting mirror that leads you to them. If you cut a deal then you'll have something to go on in order to gain access. Either way, you can proceed to the Temple of Talos. You can choose to talk to their leader, who might surprise you, but other than that the thing to do is to kill them.
Notes: If you're devious and give Garreth promises in order to get clues, but then decide to murder him... that'd be a smart move

Step 9. Mission complete.
(Quest topic is ''reward'')
You can win the quest in a bunch of ways and combinations, and the better win the better the reward. The best prize is a land deed in Reich Parkeep, which entitles you to the now-vacant Garreth Manor, and makes you a bonafide resident of Reich Parkeep. Having that status might come in handy in a future quest. If you don't opt for the land deed, and some other circumstances are correct, then an NPC from one of my quests will move into Garreth Manor instead.

[bob196045]

Howdy

RW:
This was written quite some time ago, it is a quest from ES3 Silgrad, which was done very nicely, if you recall when I played it for the first time I commented to you on it as nicely done and was actually stumped in a few areas looking for clues

Is it your intention to use this quest in ES4; if so, would we consider any modifications to it ? If not, I will move it to the archives.

Please Advise


Enjoy
Diet Bob

[Razorwing]

Originally posted by bob196045
This was written quite some time ago, it is a quest from ES3 Silgrad, which was done very nicely, if you recall when I played it for the first time I commented to you on it as nicely done and was actually stumped in a few areas looking for clues

Is it your intention to use this quest in ES4; if so, would we consider any modifications to it ? If not, I will move it to the archives.

A long time ago indeed. I had almost forgotten about it, but I enjoyed the stroll down memory lane. I might take a stab at revising and recreating it at some point, but if that ever happens then it'll be at least a year in the future. In either case I'll be sure to talk it over with you before I start on it. For the meantime please feel free to archive it.

[bob196045]

Will do !!

Consider it archived "for now"

I am typing this to myself since my brain is actually working now, I do not want to forget my thoughts on this subject
"40+ years age= forgetting" <(something to look forward to)

My thought on this is a take off from the original, for ES4 where the player is confronted in RP regarding the murder(s) by family members of one of the murdered guards ... this guard was killed in the process, and the family believes that it was not related to the Talos Cult murder, but the Talos Cult Murder was a convienient cover for the murder of their son/husband/father? by someone else.

During the course of this quest, the player would need to track down NPC's from the past and re-live and re-play the Talos Cult quest, by interviewing and visiting those people and places to discover the evidence needed in proving this families theory and eventually uncover the true killer

>>>>>Don't forget this Bob<<<<<<<