[Misc Quest] - the Last Days of Glenbridge

[Deeza]

The settlement of Glenbridge is gone. But it is still haunted by the memories of its past. At night, ghostly apparitions move through the ruins, constantly acting out their last days. Phantasmal buildings fade into focus over their ruined stumps then disappear.

The player's goal here is to piece together what happened to destroy Glenbridge. Various ghosts act out different parts of the story, but out of sequence, so you have to reconstruct it. If the player enters the ghostly buildings, they become a ghost (so to speak) - everything else is solid, but the characters ignore the player.

I think the idea could work, but we need to decide what happened to the place...

(I'm talking to you, Xaeaix, you're brilliant at bringing on the freaky stuff)

[Direwolf66]

mabey i cloud have been flooded and if we move it a bit up we could put it in the river with some parts sticking up mabey someone broke the damm on purpose beacuse they wanted revenange or somthing or i could been swallowed by the swamp waters and parshaly submuged and the person who didi it to spite them came back but then visiouc swamp creatuers came and started to kill every one and mass :chaos: started just an idea feel free to shoot it down

[Deeza]

I like the idea about the dam, though it needs more development. The swamp monster thing is too generic though - I think that to be truly sinister this should be about human evil rather than monsters.

[Direwolf66]

mabey one of the big factions was taking over the city and turning it into a drug house, or strong hold. Mabey even a group of underground necros that were taking it for experiments on the argoinains, some random argonin, went and flooded. but it still had buildings that were preserved, and holes were cut out in the bottom off biuldings, so they still functiond. then a near by tribe, tierd of bieng stolen at night, and raided launch an attack. they were devastated and bodies were mangeld, rotten corpses are evrywere. when you think all the necros are dead, (do to the high body count). they turn out to be in the main building that is hard to get to full off traps, and puzzels. in the sactum there are many strange creatures (undead) of all types. and the undead are attacking there creators. when you enter a big battel is going on undead vs necros destruction

[Direwolf66]

yah sorry ill try. but my creative geinius is just over flowing

[morcroft]

Sadly, Direwolf, your creative genius will be utterly lost until you learn at least to approximate English. We're used to contributions from modders who are not fluent in English but I, for one, haven't bothered to read more than a couple of your posts. Seriously: type slower, go back and correct. It really, really does make a difference.
</sermon>

[Xae]

Direwolf, please keep your language more proper. I usually don't even bother reading such zero-punctuation writing.

On a completely unrelated note, would it be an idea to include narrated chapter-graphics to the main quest, as found in Icewind Dale II?

On topic now. This is one of the ways I'd envision it. I'm not sure if there's specific lore on the buildings, people, but here goes. It's too long to give an in-depth story, so I'm writing it as an outline for now. Names, quest notices and such are, as usual, preliminary and subject to critique and alterations. Some of these events require locking the movement of the player, forcing him to listen to certain conversations.

The structure is a collection of events that the player has to follow. Over the course of the quest he learns what happened to Glenbridge, through a nightmare, darkly. The number sequence is one way to tell the story, but I'm sure it can be done in many other ways.

Lucky Little Glenbridge

The quest first starts when the player walks into an almost completely destroyed church-like building. The only thing left standing is a statue of some deity. This building should be right in the centre of town and the statue should catch the player's attention. Once the player is inside the bounds of the structure, he hears phantasmal echoes of people, screaming, fire, shouting and general unsettling noises.

The sounds fade away and the player is given a quest notice "While exploring the ruins of Glenbridge I heard noises. They didn't sound like they were from this world, and I get the feeling that something terrible has happened here. Maybe there are still clues left in this skeleton of a town."

Now all the doors can be activated. Each house will have its own part to play in the story. The specifics of that can be filled out in detail later, but here's the course of events and important things that need to be included.

1) Throughout the story, the player hears people talking about The Traveler. The townsfolk gossip about him and they laugh at how ignorant he is, "if only we were allowed to show him the truth".

2) When the player visits the town tavern, the Traveler is sitting at the bar. Some people near him say "That's the Traveler. Him, right there in the silver armour". He's just sitting there, enjoying a drink. Nothing too interesting about him.

3) The townsfolk seem very devoted to their religion, something called the Esoteric Church of Veerdon, which is the church-like building in the centre of town. It's apparently led by someone they call Hetric, or the Undying one. He's the leader of the order and everyone is adamant that he is immortal.

4) The player overhears a conversation about the Undying one. He came to their town not long ago. During one of their services, Hetric charged up to the podium and lectured the previous minister.

5) The player visits the church for the first time. He gets to visit the first sermon that Hetric held. He said that he "knew the truth about our God. I have come to you from the dawn of time to lead you into the arms of Veerdon! On and on, every day you pray to your God but his blessings seem random. This is because he does not listen to those who are not by his side. Do you see him around you today? Do you see him anywhere in this world? If not, why are you still here? You should not be striving to make him a part of your day, but to make yourself a part of his".

5) People in the town remark "how nice and quiet it is these days" and that it's somehow poetic as they believe they're about to move on, just like their "loved ones". They wonder what it's like and they hope that the Traveler doesn't interfere with anything.

6) The player finds/is given (somehow) a key to the church basement. The dungeon is filled with gravestones. They can all be examined and they all read (with varying names and ages):

____________________
Lucky Little Tinvy

Meeting our lord at age eleven.
We will see you shortly.
____________________

7) Last building visit. People are talking about "tonight". A woman tells about how her child "was still screaming while they were burying the casket" and "if only she'd known she was going to a better place, to see our lord. Oh, lucky little Tinvy".

8) When the player exits the previous building, the church is fully constructed again. The lights are on inside.

9) When the player enters the church, everyone in the town is standing inside. Hetric is by the podium. He starts preaching "Welcome everyone. Tonight is the night. We've all prepared for what is about to happen. The doors are barred so that none may trespass, and so that none may disturb our place of ascension. I will now deliver us to Veerdon. Light the torches".

People around the church light torches fixed to the walls, and the whole church quickly catches on fire. Moments after this becomes apparent, someone shouts "No! This is insane!" and the Traveler appears. He runs up to the podium. Startled people in the crowd shout "That's the Traveler!" and "How did he get in here!?". The Traveler cuts down Hetric, who goes flat on the ground, dead. People in the crowd scream: "Hetric!" and someone runs up to his corpse. "He's dead!" he screams. The others respond with various confused shouts and screams and one of them shouts "We have to get out of here!". "But the doors are barred!". The Traveler starts screaming at the people "How could you let this happen!? What the hell kind of people are you!?".

Then all of sudden the Traveler's voice changes to a ghostly tone. He speaks quickly and vehemently "You are not supposed to be here!". In an instant, all the townsfolk turn into skeletons, and the Traveler turns into a black skeleton.

10) Once the player has killed all the skeletons, he's teleported back out into the ruined church, right where he left off.

[Direwolf66]

okay. But back to the topic.

[Deeza]

Now that's the level of quest I've come to expect from you, Xaeaix. Very well done.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

I like it but I'd tweak a few things. Glenbridge must have suffered from a number of problems in the past, not the least of which being the floods and when the player finds Glenbridge they might well find burnt wood under the water resulting from the traveller's actions. Other residents of nearby towns might claim that floods were the cause of Glenbridge's demise but the PC will find out a little different.

In my interpretation, Hetric and the traveller have sort of been merged into the same person. He may actually appear in a tavern in another settlement but I think other people should not recognise this person and some might not even see him at all. If he were indeed a master of the occult (with some branch of Bhuru or reinterpretation of the Hist), he would not only have this power but may prey upon the citizens of this town who are often blighted by disease, raids and natural disasters, offering them deliverance. Being needy of hope, they will respond to him with joy. The man introduces his warped religion...and yet his true intent would be to destroy the town and to feed off their spirits like a lich.

So he picks their hopes up only to drain them...and the ghostly apparition that appears above the town is of him in his devilish incarnation leeching off the ancestors in the graveyard and the spirit energy left behind by both the townspeople and their ancestors...this is one interpretation of the same pattern of events....resulting in Hetric/the traveller re-appearing amongst the burned skeletons in his true form, as a lich that speaks in the same voice as the man the PC originally meets in the tavern (a voiceover could be used, if necessary).

...the whole nightmarish scenario that reveals the events leading up to Glenbridge's destruction would remain intact but perhaps Anaster Marrowmir, a man acquainted with Bhuru magic might rescue the player, revealing how the PC themselves is falling under Hetric's spell.