[FG Quest]: Rethan Gang

[TheImperialDragon]

formerly known as the Noble's Daughter Quest

Another quest that I'm thinking of rewriting slightly. Originally (reference), the idea was that the player would need to escort a rich noblewoman from a wilderness location to her uncle's manor in Silgrad City. Upon arriving, she would have tried to seduce the player, at which point the player could have either accepted or declined her offer (I would have tried to word it to be suitable for all ages, a bit like in the Anvil quest where the two women try to seduce a male player). If the player accepted, the uncle would catch them as they walked up to her bedroom. If the player declined, the uncle would thank the player, and mention he'll specifically request the player if he needs any other services from the Fighters Guild.

However, now I'm thinking about another quest based loosely on this original concept:

The quest-giver gives the player an unusual request, explaining that no one else is willing to do it. Pick up a certain noble from a wilderness location, and bring her to her uncle's home in Silgrad City. He'll finish with a little "Good luck... you'll need it."

The player picks up the noblewoman, but she turns out to be an absolute spoiled brat. At many points along the journey, she might stop walking for a minute or so, saying she hurt her ankle (or some other whining). Somewhere in the city, she will suddenly stop, complain about being thirsty, and demand that the player gets her something to drink before proceeding. So the player leaves the noble, and goes to get some special flin (which is unique for this quest) from a special brewer somewhere in the city. Upon returning, the noble will have disappeared. The player will ask around/search and find out that the Rethen gang is responsible. The player will need to track down that gang in the sewers and rescue the (highly upset) damsel in distress. She will, of course, blame the player somehow.

The player finishes by returning her to the uncle, who hears about what happened from both sides of the story. If the player makes the correct dialogue choices, the uncle will give the player the reward, and apologize for his niece's behavior. If not, he'll file a complaint with the Fighters Guild. Either way, the quest-giver won't care, saying that as long as the job is done, that's all that matters. Getting complaints from this particular client isn't unusual.

I personally like this version better because it would be more challenging, and it would be fun to mod as well.

[Razorwing]

I like it a lot! I can imagine what a nice surprise the story twist of her abduction would be for players, taking the quest in a whole new direction. It's very inventive :goodjob:

If I could pitch a suggestion then it would be at the point where she requests a drink and the player would get it from a special brewer. Perhaps it would be easier if the player just got the flin from the nearest bar? If you determine exactly where in the city she makes the request then perhaps she could make a comment that she knows a bar nearby (which could spawn a questmarker on the map). My thinking is that a special brewer might have to be modded with that express intention, while I think there's a good chance there'll already be a bar or tavern nearby anywhere in the city.

[TheImperialDragon]

Originally posted by Razorwing
I like it a lot! I can imagine what a nice surprise the story twist of her abduction would be for players, taking the quest in a whole new direction. It's very inventive :goodjob:

Thank you.

Originally posted by Razorwing
If I could pitch a suggestion then it would be at the point where she requests a drink and the player would get it from a special brewer.Perhaps it would be easier if the player just got the flin from the nearest bar?

I would have done that, but the problem is if the player already has some Flin in his or her inventory. I suppose in that scenario, she could request something else, but then it'd be the whole situation all over again; what if the player has that item too? Or... maybe instead she'll drink all the Flin the player has, and then tell him or her to get more from a local tavern? There's only a minor problem with that, and that's if the player has a ridiculous (10+) amount of Flin in his or her inventory. She'll just keep on gulping it down. It's not impossible, I just think it would be better if the player had to get something unique. That unique item could come from a local tavern or bar, after being enabled explicitly for this quest.

Originally posted by Razorwing
If you determine exactly where in the city she makes the request then perhaps she could make a comment that she knows a bar nearby (which could spawn a questmarker on the map). My thinking is that a special brewer might have to be modded with that express intention, while I think there's a good chance there'll already be a bar or tavern nearby anywhere in the city.

There will probably be several routes to get to the uncle's manor. Finding out where the player and the noble are probably won't be too difficult (once the city is merged to the ESM, that is). Choosing the bar at this point though would be a different story. I think that would need to implemented once the city has reached a more complete stage, with the vast majority of the interiors completed.

[Razorwing]

Maybe you could invent a new type of spirit that's distilled somewhere else in Tamriel and only one bar/tavern in our mod imports it? Perhaps you were thinking along those lines already. I'm not saying I think a distillery is a bad idea, on the contrary, it's just that going with a bar/tavern seemed to me like a logical way of reducing the amount of work required to mod the quest.

I can understand that it would be easier to mod the quest once the city of Silgrad Tower nears completion, since a big part of it takes place within the layout of the city.

[TheImperialDragon]

Originally posted by Razorwing
Maybe you could invent a new type of spirit that's distilled somewhere else in Tamriel and only one bar/tavern in our mod imports it? Perhaps you were thinking along those lines already.

That's more or less what I meant above.

Originally posted by Razorwing
I'm not saying I think a distillery is a bad idea, on the contrary, it's just that going with a bar/tavern seemed to me like a logical way of reducing the amount of work required to mod the quest.

It would, but I also wouldn't mind modding an extra interior. I like modding interiors.

I actually like the idea of using a bar better than using a brewery since we already have a number of our own brewers around (and the one I would make would only be used in this quest, unless someone else wanted to use it). So I'll go with using a bar instead. Time-permitting, I *might* mod a new tavern for this quest (providing sandor is okay with that ).

Originally posted by Razorwing
I can understand that it would be easier to mod the quest once the city of Silgrad Tower nears completion, since a big part of it takes place within the layout of the city.

I think in the meantime, I'll just have it so that the noble stops in any SilgradCity cell (instead of at specific points within the city walls). Only temporarily though - sometime after the city exterior is merged, I'll mod it so that she'll stop close to the area where her uncle lives.

[pero]

To prevent player from already having the drink in the inventory, and if you want the drink to be available at closest tavern, just create a special version of flin, and player can get it through dialogue with these conditions:

getstage yourquest >= x ;if you want it available after the quest, if not then ==
getisclass == publican

and in result:

player.additem specialflin 1
player.removeitem gold001 xy

Btw. The quest sounds nice!

[Razorwing]

TheImperialDragon: Ok, sounds like a good plan! I bet your quest will become a fresh and unforgettable experience for tons of players :goodjob:

[TheImperialDragon]

Thanks pero and Razorwing! :goodjob:

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I've written the dialogue for the quest. For anyone who's interested, I've attached the text in .rtf format. There is a very strong chance that there will be changes made to the dialogue as I'm modding the quest in order to account for corrections and/or unforeseen scenarios.

Right now, I don't know where exactly the noblelady will be picked up from. If there is nowhere in the region around Silgrad City, I could probably use Deepen Meadows instead (or a placeholder for the time being rather, since we still need new models before we can mod the village in Deepen Meadows).

I've also gotten a good start on modding the sewer dungeon. I recreated the sewer tileset of vanilla TES3 from scratch. It didn't strike me as being specific to any single architecture type, so it should fit right in. I also thought it would be neat to see another tileset from Morrowind remade and brought into our mod.

I think I've brought the tileset as far as I'm willing for the time being, but I plan on polishing it up later on - after there's been enough time for feedback on its usability (wherever it gets used) and appearance. I'll submit it for inclusion into the BSA when I submit the quest for merging - my quest ESP imports the NIF files into the CS.

If any of these screenshots are too dark, let me know and I'll try to upload better versions. If they're too small, I can also try to upload larger versions, though I should mention, I'm trying to save memory on my photobucket account.

Many thanks go to Razorwing for the parralax and normal maps, as well as for helping me export many of the collision meshes! :goodjob:

[Cambridge Spy]

Just saw the dialogue you've written! I'm definitely picking Glaurok gro-Klumb, but I'm also thinking of doing those lines for the generic citizens in different styles. Also, what race is "Laebrylla" supposed to be?

[sandor]

Originally posted by TheImperialDragon
I've also gotten a good start on modding the sewer dungeon. I recreated the sewer tileset of vanilla TES3 from scratch.

Very nice! :goodjob: