Skooma Skooma 'round the world

[Mizreg]

I was thinking about my own modding skills today and I did some tutorials and read some guides and I think that the quest I have here is within my modding skills:

Skooma Skooma 'round the world
---------------------------------------

The quest starts in Soulrest, there in a small alley stands an argonian called Guts-his-prey, almost everynight. If you talk to him the following conversation will occur.

---
Ghs You into smugglin' fella?
PC Op1: (ignore him and walk away <ends conversation>)
Op2: Go on please
Ghsop2ans: Well see I'm into Skooma trade, and a friend a mine, asked for a couple a bottles. But you don't have to go that far, just bring these bottles to Bariq in Stormhold and he'll take care of it 'hic'.
PC Op1: What will I get for it?
Op2: I don't think so, smuggler.
ghsop1ans: Oh you'll be rewarded very well, don't you worry, now move your ass!
ghsop2ans: Just another coward in a place where cowards die, like YOU <ends conversation and guts-his-prey (your level) attacks you.
---
Now travel to Stormhold, Bariq walks around town and if you speak to him, the following conversation will occur.
---
Bar Who ar' ya? Why ya talkin' to me?
PC I have a delivery for you, from guts-his-prey.
Bar Ah, da bottles, thank ya mon, here ya go, do spend on da skooma eh hahahaha!.
---
Bariq now gives you a hundred coins and continues on his way and your quest is completed.

[Koniption]

Originally posted by Mizreg
I was thinking about my own modding skills today and I did some tutorials and read some guides and I think that the quest I have here is within my modding skills:

Skooma Skooma 'round the world
---------------------------------------

The quest starts in Soulrest, there in a small alley stands an argonian called Guts-his-prey, almost everynight. If you talk to him the following conversation will occur.

---
Ghs You into smugglin' fella?
PC Op1: (ignore him and walk away <ends conversation>)
Op2: Go on please
Ghsop2ans: Well see I'm into Skooma trade, and a friend a mine, asked for a couple a bottles. But you don't have to go that far, just bring these bottles to Bariq in Stormhold and he'll take care of it 'hic'.
PC Op1: What will I get for it?
Op2: I don't think so, smuggler.
ghsop1ans: Oh you'll be rewarded very well, don't you worry, now move your ass!
ghsop2ans: Just another coward in a place where cowards die, like YOU <ends conversation and guts-his-prey (your level) attacks you.
---
Now travel to Stormhold, Bariq walks around town and if you speak to him, the following conversation will occur.
---
Bar Who ar' ya? Why ya talkin' to me?
PC I have a delivery for you, from guts-his-prey.
Bar Ah, da bottles, thank ya mon, here ya go, do spend on da skooma eh hahahaha!.
---
Bariq now gives you a hundred coins and continues on his way and your quest is completed.

Hi Mizreg,

Thanks for the extra quest idea. I'm personally not good at quests; I've never really done any.

But I did see some problems with your quest, some of which I tweak and elaborate on, below:

Skooma Skooma 'round the world
---------------------------------------

The quest starts in Soulrest, there in a small alley stands an argonian called Guts-his-prey, almost everynight. If you talk to him the following conversation will occur.

---
Ghs Looking to make some easy coin?
PC Op1: (ignore him and walk away <ends conversation>) (he asks this each night, whenever you go pass him, until you kill him or talk to him)
Op2: What did you have in mind?
Ghsop2ans: Well, see, I'm into the Skooma trade, and a friend a mine asked for a couple a bottles. You don't have to go that far. Just bring these bottles to Bariq in Stormhold, and he'll take care of it 'hic'. (by Koniption - Stormhold and Soulrest are far from each other, actually)
PC Op1: What will I get for it?
Op2: I don't think so, smuggler.
ghsop1ans: Oh, you'll be rewarded very well, don't you worry. Now get a move on!
ghsop2ans: Just another coward in a place where cowards die, like YOU ! <ends conversation and guts-his-prey (your level) attacks you.
---
Now travel to Stormhold, Bariq walks around town and if you speak to him, the following conversation will occur.
---
Bar Who ar' ya? Why ya talkin' to me? (by KP - By his speech style, is he a pirate or sailor??)
PC I have a delivery for you, from guts-his-prey.
Bar Ah, da bottles, thank you. Here ya go, do spend on some skooma eh hahahaha!.
---
Bariq now gives you a hundred coins and continues on his way and your quest is completed.

-----------------------------------------------------------
You made Bariq sound Jamaican, speech-wise. This speech-style would be too obvious to most players, as being based in real life. Oblivion/Blackmarsh is sort of like mideivel fanstasy, with sorts of speeches that might appear in that timeframe. But Argonians and Khajiits are different, sort of, and it's hard to explain how, unless you play Oblivion and listen to how they talk, and what grammar they use.

Stormhold is on far opposite side of Blackmarsh map from Soulrest:
http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq70/...tMap-1.jpg

(so it will not be a "short trip", as GutsHP says it will be. Maybe choose a closer city or location??)

What race is Bariq?

What if you accept the quest from GutsHP, then keep the bottles, and never deliver them? After three days, does GutsHP hear word that Bariq did not get the bottles, and so GutsHP attacks you when he next sees you. (you did say the two were friends after all, and are bound to communicate with each other).

What if you decide to kill Bariq, before or after handing him the bottles?

Please keep my tweaks/info above and other event contingencies I mentioned, in mind, for sketching out this quest.

Otherwise, it's a nice quest.

Koniption

[Mizreg]

Thanks for your insight in the quest, Bariq will be a redguard, and I made him have this accent because nobody really speaks the true language in such a corner of the world as Black Marsh. And about the ''Short trip'', I guess it will be said sarcasticly.

Furthermore I choose Soulrest as a starting place because of the reputation the city has for criminal activity and Stormhold as the destination because it lies at the border and the ''bottles'' actual destination is probably Bravil or Leyawinn in Cyrodill.

If you kill Bariq before the quest has ended a quest pop-up will come up and say something like: ''Bariq, the man I was to deliver the Skooma to, has died, and so my delivery has failed''. This will result in Guts-His-Prey ravaging and attacking everyone he sees, being killed in the effort.

If you kill Bariq after the quest, he will have the bottles of skooma, some money (not much) and his clothes to loot.

If someone can make up a nice twist to this quest or maybe a follow up I'd like to here it.

[t3h_pwn3r_ii]

Hi Miz;

This is better. Very simple but sweet. K.I.S.S: Keep It Simple, Stupid.
I thought Bariq would be Argonian as there is a few lines in the vanilla where an Argonian goes "Bar!". But you are the quest maker. KP's right, the start was just a a bit unconditional with grammar, even for a scum. Also, i looked over using the letter a in front of "mine" as it suits a sort of Louisianan accent, and that was what i felt Guts was, a bit redneck and scummy.

I reckon your right though, there should be a twist. Now this is only optional! It will be hard to script but with the help of the good ol' internet, we can do it.

You find Bariq dead on the ground in his house. (I woiuld not be giving "bottles" in the broad day light of an open town. Then a guard comes in, saying that he was tipped off that a skooma dealer would be in this house about now. he sees the body and puts you under arrest.
Once you get out (like normal jail) you go to find Guts but he is nowhere to be found. Another dealer (Name: Saraj; Imperial) will be in his usual spot, telling you all about how Guts tipped the guard off about you and killed Bariq just before you got there.
Saraj tells you that Guts wanted Saraj to meet him at the Blue Green Tavern, a couple hundred meters from Lilmoth.

Now if you wish, i'd leave the rest up to you, it is your quest after all and i do not want to pressure you. I have a plan for this but I best leave it up to you.

PWN

[Koniption]

No problem.

I do have an idea for a twist on this story, maybe.

Once you've accepted the quest, and either left the city of Soulrest for a full day or two (Soulrest is in a separate worldspace, so you have to go through a load door to go in a out of it), or have delivered the bottles to Bariq in Stormhold, then the next time you go back into Soulrest near the place where GutsHP was standing, you see him laying dead on the ground, gutted, with his ribcage exposed. You see an accidentally dropped note on the ground, right beside the body.

But no other NPC is to be found around him (therefore, his standing area and dead-laying area should be closed off and obstructed, so other NPCs can't find his body, to avoid extra scripting and work, tbh). (This would require a new model for the gutted body to wear as clothes on GutsHP, but it won't be too hard for me to tweak the male Argonian body to look this way. For now, you can use a script to set GutsHP to have zero hitpoints/lifepoints. I can add the gutted model later)

The backstory to this event is, that there is someone higher up the chain in the smuggling business, who used GutsHP, much as GutsHP used you. They had told GutHP to deliver the bottles himself, but GutsHP decided to take an easy route and have you deliver the bottles instead. But GutsHP did not know they would kill him to prevent him from being a liability, even if he delivered the bottles himself. And they certainly weren't expecting another middleman, like you, to be used by GutHP, to deliver the bottles for him.

The note beside is implied to have been dropped by the assassin, and says something like, "You are to go find and gut Guts-his-prey, in Soulrest. You know the routine, my most-trusted. Now that he knows of me and our smuggling operation, he is a liability, and therefore expendable once he completes his job. Kill him, by his namesake."

You can end the quest here. Or make it so someone finds out about the player being involved and now the player is on a hitlist. And/or you can make it so the player decides to find out more about who killed GutsHP, etc, etc.

Koniption

[t3h_pwn3r_ii]

Hi KP;

Thats really good! I thought when i read the gutted body bit, "Kp will do this easily for sure!".
In my idea, you found skooma bottles littered on the Blue green tavern's floor and every other person dead. Save for a small wood elf. he tells you to help him find the man who killed these people in his cave where he tracked him down. He had fled the scene because he was scared of being thought liable. there was a note that said bring the skooma Middleman and I will make this go away with money. get skooma from the chest in the tavern rooms. this place is a front for exporting skooma, you can see it in the bloodied eyes of the victims. You go with him to the cave and find Guts body dead and cold. The wood elf attacks you at this point after saying to you, "Die, middleman!" lob his fu**ing head off!
Saraj comes out and tells you all about what this was.
he had told Guts to take the bottles to Bariq, knowing he would ask someone to do it for him He would then find out when this middleman (you) were heading to Barip, he killed barip an hour before you got there and tipped the guard off with the info. Sending you to jail, you would be mad at Guts, going back to the place you met him, Saraj would be there instead, leading you to the skooma orgy tavern, his wood elf servant killed them all and lied to you about it being Guts. Now here you are, with skooma and gold, and weapons and Armour, ready to hand them over, along with your head. You fight him. Kill him, on his body is his note saying he had been exiled from the tavern orgies of skooma and sex after "inappropriate" behavior. You then go to the guard offices in Soulrest and talk to the guard who arrested you, with the evidence and saraj's diary, he apologizes and gives you a sum of money (1000 septims, this also happens in real life, if you are accused of something you didnt do then it is found out you are innocent, they give you money)
Quest end.

Hope thats okay, sorry for bad grammar, I am on my iPhone so it is very hard!!! LOL

PWN

[Mizreg]

Thanks for all the info guys, people seem to get really exited about anything that has to do with skooma :p.

The final quest as I see it will be like this:

1 - Guts-His-Prey comes to you in Soulrest and gives you a note which sais you are to meet him in an abondoned shack at the edge of the city.
2 - Upon arriving in the shack he offers you a chance to make some money, you have to deliver some good ol' bottles o skooma () to Stormhold, to an Argonian (changed him anyway) called Bariq. Who you are to meet at midnight in an alleyway in the southern section of the city.
3 - In the alleyway a note is found on the ground with on it: ''the door next to you''.
4 - If you enter the building you find Bariq dead on the ground and just as you loot his body for clues a guard comes rushing in. Seeing you with the body he arrests you and you are tossed into jail.
5 - Angry with Guts-His-Prey who gave him this assignment in the first place, instead of Guts-His-Prey however, you will find a (I thought it would be fun if Saraj was a female so here we go :p) woman called Saraj. She laughs when you tell the story and sais something like that has also happened to her in the early days of her career. She tips him that Guts really likes a tavern called the Blue Green Tavern just outside Lilmoth for some reason.
6 - As you enter the Inn you see bodies everywhere and a black hooded wood elf in the corner. He speaks to you and sais that he has yet more prey to gut. Then he attacks you, kill him and loot his body, on him he has a note which sais that he is to meet Guts-His-Prey at his nearby shack in the woods.
7 - On the ground in the shack you will find the gutted Guts-His-Prey and suddenly from the shadows an old man that looks like a beggar appears. He sais you have done well, and that you can hand over the skooma now.
8a - You CAN choose to just give him the Skooma and get away with your reward (800 septims) and this ends the quest.
8b - You CAN also choose to fight the old man who fights with his bare hands and is easily defeated. You can then loot the 800 septims and keep the Skooma for yourself.

That is how I see it, the quest as it is right now, only there is one little problem, which is my modding skills. I originally designed this quest as a simple, easy to script, delivery quest, but as it is now it is beyond my abillities to make. So I'm gonna need some help with that.

Mizreg

[t3h_pwn3r_ii]

Hi Miz;

That's really good! You incorporated both our inputs.

I think if you mod it, than they will help you for sure, you just have to make it is all.

I think the name could do with an overhaul though IMO, but it i yours.

PWN

[Mizreg]

Nah I don't think the name should be changed because it all starts with smugglin' skooma, and when Skooma is smuggled it is Skooma Skooma 'round the world right!?

[t3h_pwn3r_ii]

Like I said, its your quest.