Redoran: Farm Thieves

[Razorwing]

A quest I've been thinking of making for Oblivion. Opinions welcome.

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LOCATIONS
1) The Lutharra Homestead
2) Reich Parkeep's old abandoned iron mine
3) Favala ruins

[title]The Lutharra Homestead[/title]

Northwest of Reich Parkeep, on the road between the Ancient Gate and Crossroads, lies the Lutharra Homestead. Located on the north side of the road is a large central building and two smaller ones, hugged by a low stonewall going all around. To the west and east of the homestead lies cropfields, while a small pasture can be found on the other side of the road. The family is made up of an elderly couple who has two sons and one daughter. The daughter and her husband lives in one of the sidebuildings, while the rest of the family lives in the central building. The other sidebuilding serves as storage, and is filled with food, bales of hay, farm tools and other farm-related stuff. Other features of the farm is a well and a small forge.

As far as work goes, this is my preliminary plan for making the NPCs do during the day.
- The elderly man works in the forge (repairing farm tools and such).
- The elderly woman is a seamstress.
- The two sons tend the fields.
- The daughter is an herbalist and spends the day roaming the nearby forests.
- The daughter's husband tends to the animals in the pasture.

- Reich Parkeep's old abandoned iron mine -

The old iron mine lies in the hilly region north of Reich Parkeep. If the player comes to it before it kicks into play in this quest he's met by a barred door and can't enter it. There's a notice on the door saying something to the effect of: "By order of the Imperial magistrate, the abandoned mine has been sealed to prevent further accidents."

[title]Favala ruins[/title]

Some distance south or southeast of the Ancient Gate lies the remains of a once-proud Velothi settlement called Favala. It's believed that the Dunmer that used to live there simply pulled up stakes and merged with the burgeoning city of Reich Parkeep, evident by the lack of artifacts - the Dunmer in all likelyhood took them with them when they set off for Reich Parkeep. There's not much of interest near the site and it's not a place people go to these days, other than the odd history afficionado researching the Velothi culture. The site is made up of two decrepit Velothi buildings and several ruins, ranging from foundation to heaps of rubble. Around the site you can see the outline of what was once a mighty wall, but nowadays have withered down to almost nothing.
If the player comes to the ruins before the quest kicks in, it's abandoned. When the quest is active it becomes home to a band of thieves and gets various details that signals that it's habitated. A small field with sparse vegetables are added to underline a possible outcome of the quest.


[title]The quest[/title]

The player is informed by Areya in Reich Parkeep that the Lutharra family came to see him the other day to report that their homestead had been plundered by a gang of thieves. He sent out one of his guards to find out what happened, but haven't heard back from him. He'd like the player to investigate the attack, find out what happened to his guard, and if possible bring the thieves to justice and return the stolen loot to the Lutharra family.

AREYA
- "I was visited by the Lutharra family the other day. Damn fine folk if you ask me, hard-working, decent, honest, a real pride to our House. They are victims of a cowardly band of thieves who struck their homestead not that long ago and stole and robbed them of what meager possessions their hard work had earned them. Not everyone can be out there on the field, fighting battle after battle, but belonging to our House means enough of us do that so that less beligerant members can sleep safe at night. And that's where you come in. I want you to investigate the attack on the Lutharra Homestead and take appropriate actions. Come and see me when you are done and report your findings."

(the player can then continue the conversation to get directions to the Homestead)

When the player reaches the Homestead he may or may not see evidence of the attack in the form of broken windows and things like that, I'll have to see what I can work with first, but it would be a nice touch I think. The player can talk to each of the six family members to get different pieces of the puzzle.

[elderly man]:
"They wore masks, so I didn't get a good look at them. But when they spoke to us there was no hiding the fact that the voices were Dunmer. Hah. Probably Hlaalu scum if you ask me, they're afraid to fight us man-to-man so they try to thieve us to death instead... they will NOT succeed!"

[elderly woman]:
"It was in the middle of the night when they struck. They went straight for the main building and didn't show any interest for the side building where [daughter] and [daughter's husband] slept. I really wish we had stored our silverware there instead, but not much we can do about that now.

[older son]:
"I've been thinking about becoming a warrior myself these past few years, because we really need someone here who can protect the family. But the fields don't tend to themselves, now do they? With the amount of tax we pay I'd expect Parkeep to keep us safe. I mean, it's not like we're in a remote corner of the Ashlands or anything."

[younger son]:
"There was five of them that I could see, but there might have been more of them outside. I think one of them was a woman."

[the daughter]:
"Me and my husband were sleeping in the other building and we didn't really get into the situation, but I peeked my head out the door as they were leaving and I'm sure they were heading for the Ancient Gate."

[the daughter's husband]:
"As far as I understand, the thieves took off for the Ancient Gate. But there's no way they would have gotten through the Gate with the stuff they took... you need all sorts of documents to bring trade through the Gate. And somehow I don't think a filthy band of shifty-eyed Dunmer with bags of household items would pass as traders. If you ask me, I'd say it's a safe bet the criminals never crossed the border - they're still here in Morrowind."

Obviously some pieces of the puzzle are more important than others, but from the interviews the player will hopefully deduct that he should continue down the road towards the Ancient Gate. Once there he can talk to the guards manning the trading post if he wants. They'll give him the name of the guard who was on duty that night. Interviewing the guard is fully optional of course, the player can reach their hideout in either case, but talking to the guard can give a clue as to what direction to search.

[the guard]:
"Hmm... yes I remember that night because I heard a commotion in the woods to my right. It sounded like people moving around over there. I just figured it was trappers out to snare animals. Besides, I'm paid to guard the gate - and they didn't threaten the gate. Meaning it's not my problem. Heck, get me killed on some vigilante work would you? No thanks, if I die, it will be for something my wife could collect Imperial pension for. Good day to you."

Despite the rude response the player would deduct that the band of thieves had left the path to avoid detection and were trying to move secretly to their hideout through the woods - with moderate success. Good for them the guard on duty was 50% coward and 50% lazy. As the guard had heard them to his right and he was guarding the Morrowind side, the thieves were moving around south of the Gate. So, to find their hideout the player just has to hug the Velothi Mountains to his right and travel some distance south.

Eventually he'll come upon a path leading up into the mountains. The path is marked by a crude sign post that only reads "ruins", perhaps erected by a scholar researcing the Velothi ruins to make it easier for future scholars to find it. After a short hike, he's at Favala. Apart from the five thieves in the buildings there's always a thief on guard duty outside the buildings, and when he spots the player he judges the player's level.

- If the player is below the target level the thief decides the gang can take him, and he sounds an alarm that causes the rest of the band to pour out from the buildings and start to fight the player. They'll fight to the death, and if the player survives he can collect the loot from the corpses and the buildings. The stuff they stole from the Lutharra Homestead is among the loot, which the player should return to the farmers and then report back to Areya and the quest is completed satisfactory.

- If the player is above the target level the thieves recognize that they probably wouldn't survive a confrontation with the player, and so they attempt to negotiate. All of them points the player to talk to the leader of the gang, who's found in one the Velothi buildings.

[thief leader]:
"You want to know why we raided the Lutharras? Because we're starving, that's why. We have no interest in city life and the confined lifes dictated by House Redoran and the Temple, we want to be free and work for ourselves, not someone else. It hasn't been easy though. As you can guess, the soil isn't very fertile up here and what little crops we get to grow just barely keeps us from starving to death. So what if we relieve the wealthy farmers of some possessions? Their bellies are full just the same. The Guild was going to fence the stuff we gained... we'd get a decent meal for once, and maybe some fertilizer for the cropfields. All we want is to be able to make it on our own. So. Are you going to arrest us?"

CHOICE:
1) "No need, under authority of Areya I'll sentence you right here and now." (battle ensues)
2) "Yes, you are all under arrest." (the thieves start to follow the player around)
3) "I'll let you know." (nothing happens)

The first choice leads to the same ending as above, assuming the player lives.

The second choice sees the player getting a flock of thieves on his back, which he can lead anywhere he likes. They won't defend the player if the player gets attacked by someone or something, and if they hang around long enough it's entirely possible they all wind up dead eventually, which would automatically enable the first ending. If one or more of them survives though, they can be led where they're supposed to go - to Areya.

[Areya]:
"Well done. So, these are our thieves I take it. Very well, I sentence you all to five years in prison. I..."
(at this point, one of Areya's aids steps up to him and whispers something to him)
"Strike that, I have jobs for you. You are to report to my cousin, Idredh Areya, who lives here in town. %PCName will escort you. Go."
(the player can continue the conversation to get directions to Idredh Areya's house)

When the player greets Idredh, the player can tell him that Areya sent these workers to him.

[Idredh]:
"Wonderful! This is just what I needed to get the old mine going again. You'll work for food the first year, then we can talk about wages... deal?"

The thieves agree, and the player is alone again and can go back to Areya for his reward. Throughout all of this there's a condition that must be met though - returning the loot to the Lutharra Homestead - so if the player hasn't done that yet he'll have to do so before he can collect any reward. Areya will reward this ending better because the crime is solved while at the same time the mine will bring wealth to his family. This ending also transforms the location of the old abandoned mine; if the player visits it again he can chat to the thieves-turned-miners, who are pretty happy about their new lives. A camp might have sprung up outside the mine, with a fire and some tents, and some picks and equipment littered here and there. There's not much for the player to do at the mine though, it's just a mundane workplace.

The third choice doesn't lead to anything by the way; the thieves remain in the ruins while the player can go and talk to the Lutharras or to Areya, which doesn't do much good, but it's a way to postpone the decision if the player doesn't want to take action right that minute.

[Ben Vagara]

I really like this idea!

Perhaps for the last/third choice... it allows the PC to delay action, but still has one thief (or another NPC) following the PC around when the PC... just to keep a little pressure on...

Ben

[Razorwing]

Thanks Ben
I like your suggestion, but I just intended for the third choice to let the player out of dialogue without having to decide anything right then and there. But then again we could have another option that sees one of the thieves following the player? Perhaps taking the thief back to the questgiver so they can talk.

[raggidman]

There is something about the idea of bringing the thieves and the robbed together as business partners in the mine that I find very appealing - it means that you have made a real change in the world.

Perhaps since choice 3 can lead you back to choice 2 and the mine ending there could be some further options that remain hidden until you do something else that would bring you back to the area, or:

a) a message from your employer might eventually reach you enquiring wheether you had learned anything new, and would you keep an eye open for workers as they need help to open the mine...

b) a message from the thieves who are not doing so well...?

There again. Do you really have to 'force' the thieves to kill the player? Given Radient, maybe they would just laugh at him/her, or further options? Maybe negociate...invite player to join them...bribe.

What if the thieves were attacked by a common enemy? And if the player decides to aid them?

After all, if a battle is essential the mine might be haunted or otherwise inhabited, and that might bring other ways to plant ideas - conversational opportunities that are not so obvious?

Maybe you could have a lot of ways to resolve this excellent scenario. Or do another farm scenario to use the ideas that cannot be used here! More work from the wicked!