Deeza's Plan for the Abacean Isles release

[InsanitySorrow]

Originally posted by Deeza
I guess the ticket would be quite expensive (at least a few hundred gold pieces), this is why I wanted to make it an item (just a rolled-up scroll called "Passage to Valenwood" as a quest item in the player's inventory). This way the player could haggle over the price with Olurion.

I like that idea, plus its easy to implement

[drmccoy]

Alright, it shall be done.

Here's your ticket:

<div align="left">The South Seas Company hereby grants you transportation to Valenwood.<br><br>The trip to the amazing Valenwood will be done fast and save, accomodation, food and supplies are being offered free-of-charge aswell.<br>Please keep in mind that the South Seas Company strongly forbids the import of Skooma and/or other goods prohibited by federal law. Before boarding and after the arrival, your luggage might be checked by our personal to ensure you've been following the guidelines.<br>Please mind the gap between the vessel and the rowboat.<br>

[InsanitySorrow]

Originally posted by drmccoy
Alright, it shall be done.

:banana:

Do you know how to set up options for batering if the player has the ticket?

[Deeza]

lol, I like the "please mind the gap" part

I just made a couple of changes to make it sound more like a "legal document", read it through and see if you like them:

<div align="left">The South Seas Company hereby grants the bearer transportation to Valenwood.<br><br>The Captain of the vessel has signed a contract guaranteeing journey to the amazing Valenwood will be both fast and safe, and that accomodation, food and supplies are included in the price.<br>Please keep in mind that the South Seas Company strongly forbids the import of Skooma and/or other goods prohibited by Imperial law. Before boarding and after the arrival, your belongings might be checked by our personnel to ensure your compliance with all relevant laws.<br>Please mind the gap between the vessel and the rowboat.<br>

@IS

I'm not quite sure what you mean?

[InsanitySorrow]

Originally posted by Deeza

@IS

I'm not quite sure what you mean?

Ok so from what I understand you want to be able to barter with the captain if the player has the item. As far as I can tell the only way to do it is as follows:

You have your main topic:
-Travel

Under that you could have a set price:
-Travel
- 300 Gold

If the player has the letter then more options become available, you could then check the players speechcraft skill against the NPCs speechcraft skill to determine batering. IE the player has 70 skill and the NPC hs 40 skill, then the player would suceed.

Your options could end up like so with the item in the PC inventory:
-Travel
- 300 Gold
- 200 Gold
- 100 Gold

The options could require a higher skill on the players part to ensure batering sucess.

Hope it helps

[Deeza]

Alright, first part of the revised main quest:

Quest One: Passage to Valenwood

The player “wakes up” on the trashed ship in the middle of the storm. Journal updates:
“You are thrown from the bed by a terrible jolt. The ship seems to be tilting wildly and you can feel water lapping at your feet. Something has gone terribly wrong.”
Sammanul runs up and tells the player:
“You're alive! I thought there was nobody left down here. The ship is holed and sinking fast – we have to get up on deck!”
Player: What happened?
Sammanul: A huge storm, the most powerful I've ever seen. It came from nowhere out of clear skies, and ran us straight onto a reef!
Player: Do you have a plan?
Sammanul: We have to cut loose the rowboats, before they are dragged down with the ship. We are miles from land – that will be our only chance of survival.
Player runs up through the ship with Sammanul, seeing one or two other NPCs panicking, screaming “We're all going to die! etc.” Once the player reaches the rowboat, touching it will set off a script that teleports the player to....

Player “wakes up” on the beach of the small island. They see Sammanul right in front of them, fighting off a swarm of giant spiders! After the player charges in and kills the last of them, player has a talk with Sammanul:
“You fight well, considering you were unconscious a moment ago. I'm impressed. It seems not all Cyrodiils are as soft as I thought. We should see if there are any other survivors.”
The player explores the small island, soon finding the beach with the main wreck site, where Boldur, Craelius and Vuldon gro-Murlok are waiting around. Craelius has gone crazy due to the trauma of the shipwreck, and is now walking around the beach half-naked saying bizarre dialogue along the lines of “I am the king of the turnips, fear me!” and so on.
The player talks to Boldur:
Boldur: “You made it! I was afraid we were the only ones.”
Player: “Where are we?”
Boldur: “That storm must have blown us far off course. By my estimation from the sun's position, we've ended up on one of the Abacean Isles. Nobody ever sails here. I don't know if they are even inhabited.”
Player: “So what do we do?”
Boldur: “The Captain is missing, so I am assuming command. Follow my orders and we'll soon get off this island.”
Player: “And how do you propose to do that?”
Boldur: “You see the trees? There's wood everywhere on these islands, enough to make a dozen rafts. The mainland isn't far away, it's possible to sail there if we're lucky.”
The player goes to talk to Sammanul, who isn't impressed:
Sammanul: “Boldur is a fool. Building a raft and sailing to the mainland will take days, and in this heat, without fresh water we would be dead long before then.”
Player: Do you have a better idea?
Sammanul: “Come with me. You seem to be a sensible person. Let us leave Boldur to build his boat, and go to find water and food that will keep us alive.”

Quest Two: Water of Life

Sammanul follows the player over to the larger islands. Several Bosmer hunter NPCs have scripts to wander around the islands and initiate talk with the player when they meet:
Bosmer hunter: “Halt! You are not native to these isles and we don't like strangers. If you want to live, come with us!”
The player can either agree, and follow them to the Chief's house, or fight them. Either way, the player will eventually arrive at the village (all the Bosmer NPCs refuse to talk to the player until they have spoken with the chief).

Chieftain: “I bid you welcome. From your looks you are not here by choice. How did you come to our islands?”
Player: [You explain your story]
Chieftain: “A familiar story, all too common in this part of the world. You were fortunate to survive.”
Player: [Ask about taking the boat to the mainland]
Chieftain: “Quite impossible. The boat is the only one we have. How could we ever be sure you would return it? Forgive our distrust, but outsiders have done nothing to earn our favour.”
Player: Then may we build our own raft?
Chieftain: “You... dare to suggest you would harm a... a... plant? Cut down... a tree?”
Player: I don't understand you.
Chieftain: We are the Bosmer. The sap-people. We obey the Green Pact, and we shall not allow anyone to harm so much as a leaf of these Isles. If you have broken the Pact you must die by our bows.”
Player: But this is ridiculous!
Chieftain: “We are not like our brethren on the mainland. We do not pick and choose from the Green Pact as we like. The mainland has trees to spare, so perhaps they can be lenient in their dealings with outsiders. Here, our trees are few, and any who would harm them must die.”
“How could we have known?”
“Perhaps you are right. Maybe outsiders cannot be expected to understand the.... relationship we enjoy with the herbs and flora. Perhaps, there is a way to atone for your first offence.”
“And what would that be?”
“The heart coral of the sea, despite appearances, is not a plant but a creature. Break its fronds, spill its blood, feed it to the trees. Put back what was taken, and we shall put this infringement behind us.”
“What must I do?”
“You think you can survive? You are mad for sure! But I like this about you. It shall be most entertaining to watch you try. Go with our shaman – she knows the rituals you will need.”

The shaman talks to the player, unable to conceal her disgust.
“Let's get going, herbivore (she says it like an insult, as a human would say “murderer”),”
Quest marker activates and the player follows the shaman towards it out of the village.
If the player talks to Sammanul he says:
“You certainly handled those Bosmer well. I'm thinking I made a good decision to stay with you. Go with them, but be careful. Watch for tricks. I will remain here and find out what I can.”

Quest Three: Keeping the Pact

The shaman leads the player to the beach closest to the heart coral reef, and casts a constant effect spell of water breathing on the player. She orders them to:
“Swim out as far as you can then dive. The rituals have been completed. The heart coral lies deep on the sea bed – you will recognise it easily for it glows. Now hurry!”
The player does as instructed and finds the Heart Coral item (it's at the bottom of the reef, with a source of light behind it so that it appears to glow). Once the player picks it up, the water breathing disables and several sharks spawn behind the player and attack! The player must either swim away or kill them (they carry the item “shark's teeth” - use daedroth teeth as a base item). Then get back to the shaman, who seems shocked:
“You... survived. This was.... unexpected. By spilling your own blood and that of the heart coral, the Pact is restored. You and your friends may roam freely across the Isles – but remember not to harm plants of any kind.”

Quest Four: There Are Others

The player heads back to the village, picks up Sammanul, then heads back to the other survivors (by this stage, they have established a small camp a fire, which could be scripted to enable once the third quest is finished).

On the way back, a new character, Volus, spawns behind the player and engages them in conversation:
“People! Real, civilised people! I can't believe my eyes. Thank the Nine I got to you before those Bosmer did.”
“Who are you?”
“I am Volus Mesperides, Captain of the good ship Prosperity. Or I was, before I was wrecked on this island's reefs by a sudden storm. Exactly as you were.”
How did you know that?
“It's no surprise. They lure the ships here, and they wreck them. How else do you think their homes are made of wood, when they refuse to cut down trees? Strip the ships down for timber, eat the crew. That's their way.”
But how can they do that?
Now is not the place. If others survived from your ship you must warn them. It may not be long before the Bosmer start feeling like a snack. Meet me at [insert location name here], and hurry.”

The player goes back to Boldur:
“You look like you've had a rough time. What news?”
Player: [You fill Boldur in on the recent events]
Boldur: “They have a boat, and the bastards won't let us use it! I think this Volus may be right, they have something sick in store for us. We must find out more. Go to meet him, but be careful.”

The player goes to meet Volus:
Volus: “I realise my story may seem a little far-fetched. So I will show you proof. Come with me.”
He takes the player to the Clearing of Bones then says:
Volus: “This is all that's left of most of my crew. Half of us survived the wreck, and the Bosmer seemed friendly enough at first. But they were just putting us off guard. Those who couldn't hide fast enough were eaten within a week. Now do you believe me?”
“How did you escape?”
“We have a secret place. The Bosmer think it's sacred or some nonsense like that, so there's no chance of finding us there. I will show you.”

Volus leads the player to Volus' Cave, where you meet his surviving crew – all very heavily armed and not very friendly. Amazingly, the Captain is also there, having been found on the beach by Volus' men.
Volus: Now that you're here we can talk safely. I don't want to run the risk of the Bosmer realising that I've figured out their little scheme.”
“Go on.”
Volus: “Since ancient times, these islands have had unnatural weather. Ships going missing, even whole fleets. Storms and walls of water appearing out of nowhere. And after spying on the village for months I think I know what's causing it.”
“What could possibly...”
Volus: “They call it the Wrecking-Stone. It manipulates the weather, crushing any ship that gets too close to these islands. Even the Altmer Dominion was never able to conquer the place. It's the perfect defence.”
“So this was what wrecked our ships?”
Volus: “And more. The Bosmer may have forgotten its real name, but its fame has spread even to Cyrodiil. That stone is nothing less than a fully working Falaithrun Laidrul.”
“A what?”
Volus: “An old sailor's legend. Or we thought it was. The ancient Aldmer made them, placed them on islands all over the world, controlling the weather so their ships would always have safe passage. Only two were known to survive, and are kept by the Altmer.”
“So a third stone is somewhere on this island?”
Volus: “Yes, and it gets worse. Even if we were to steal the Bosmer boat and escape, they could summon up a storm and kill us anyway. We cannot escape from the islands unless we can destroy the Wrecking-Stone.”
“How can we find it?”
Volus: “I already have. It's in a cave on the largest island, but it is guarded. With the survivors from your ship, we finally have the manpower to storm the village and escape this prison. Are you with me?”
Player: “Let me discuss this with the others.”

[drmccoy]

Hahaha! Love the part "I am the king of the turnips, fear me!"
Other than that, it's a really neat quest!

About the ship: Should I really include the screaming NPCs? It could cause a few problems, the ship as become pretty stuffed, plus: i don't have any "we're all gonna die" soundfiles

[Deeza]

OK, I hadn't thought of crowding issues. Perhaps we can have a dialogue line that suggests everyone else has already abandoned the ship, and Sammanul just came back to look for survivors (after all, he's being paid to keep the passengers alive)?

As for soundfiles, once the quest is completed we have a very experienced resident voice actor, Ibsen's Ghost, who I'm sure would be very interested in adding voice acting to the quest.

[drmccoy]

The Dialogue line won't be an issue. And for Ibsen's Ghost, I'm happy he's doing it, so he's kindof checking my writing

Should I have the ship in anvil disappear after the takeoff?

[Deeza]

He's pretty busy with Black Marsh right now, but once we've finished with the islands, I shall ask him. I'm sure this project will interest him.

By the way, someone mentioned that there's a quest on the islands already. Could you tell me what it is? I remember there being one about a cursed bow discussed...

Edit:
I've also found that we have a full set of Valenwood music! It was composed for the project years ago, but you can still download it on this page:
This is Solar Rain
The quality of the music is extraordinary, you really should listen to it.