Battle of the Bards (formerly "The Bard's Revenge")

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Abagarlas's picture
Abagarlas
Joined:
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EDIT: I changed the quest substantially to remove the race and crime elements. The quest is now much more light hearted.

Premise: An innkeeper wants you to end a petty feud between two bards at her tavern

Assets needed:
A scripted jug of Spiked Shein that knocks out (Damages Fatigue moderately quickly to 0, perhaps by being twice that of the target’s Fatigue regeneration) on the drinker. The player gives it to the target via dialogue, so it could act when given to that particular NPC as well.
A pair of scripted Shoes that force the target to jump over and over again for a certain duration (~30 seconds). They should also act either on use or on give (to the particular target).

Locations:
An inn
A jail

Characters:
Darayne Llarem, the Dunmer publican of the Drunken Guar Inn
Moreth Helsim, a Dunmer bard in the inn
Rajjma, a Khajiit bard in the inn

Detailed Summary:
The player hears rumors that the local inn’s publican has had enough of two bards’ squabbling. If they travel to the Drunken Guar, they hear it straight from Darayne. Though they both seemed promising entertainers, their bickering has been driving customers away. She is tired of the two fighting, arguing, and constantly trying to one-up each other. She asks you to speak with the two of them to end the fighting, one way or another.
Speaking with Darayne or the inns guests reveals more information about the two:
Moreth Helsim is the youngest son of an influential family who has been using his name and connections to get ahead. He is a lutenist and a talented dancer – that is, he is very Acrobatic – but he is far too serious for his avocation.
Rajjma is a gifted musician who is new in town. His routine incorporates his signature ribald sense of humor – he wows the crowd with Speechcraft – but he enjoys his drink a bit too much to have any stamina.
The player can talk to the two of them to learn their grievances. Each accuses the other of trying to steal the spotlight. Moreth complains that Rajjma makes lewd jokes that interrupt his performances, and likes to steal his shoes. Rajjma claims that he can only get a few jokes out before Moreth starts to distract the crowds with his dancing, and mocks him for his taste in alcohol. 
Each asks the player to help him settle the score with his rival. At this point the player has the following options:

1a. The player can support one of the bards over the other, leading to a revenge plotline. If the player agrees to support one bard, the other will no longer ask for the player’s help.
1b. The player can betray one bard to the other and then help that bard get revenge. This leads to a revenge plotline.
2. The player can betray both bards to the other, ending the quest unless they choose to pursue 4.
3. The player can convince the bards to work together, leading to the reconciliation plotline.
4. (If the player has the official Entertainers plugin) The player can offer their own services to Darayne instead, leading to the usurpation ending.

Moreth’s Revenge
If the player sides with Moreth, he comes up with a plan to sabotage the Khajiit’s next performance. The Khajiit is a known souse, so he asks the player to hand Rajjma a jug of Shein before his performance. However, Moreth will spike the Shein beforehand with a special Orcish liquor, far more potent than the local brews. He tells the player to return to him at the inn at 6:00 pm the next day, which is before Rajjma’s performance.
Starting at 6:00 pm, the player can talk to Moreth to get the spiked Shein. They then have an up to 15 minute grace window during which they can offer the Khajiit the Spiked Shein through dialogue.
If the player does not do this, the Khajiit performs at 6:15 sharp (Intermittently, until 7:00, dialogue windows pop up from the bard telling a joke or humorous anecdote, growing progressively less coherent) and the player fails the quest.
If the player does give Rajjma the Spiked Shein, they watch the Khajiit stand for a few moments before falling to the ground unconscious. Talking to the inn’s patrons about Rajjma reveals that they are unsurprised and mock the bard for his habits. The player can then return to Moreth for a reward, and talking to Darayne also gives them a reward. Returning later, Rajjma has a lowered disposition. He complains of a hangover and admits that he has been defeated by the player and Moreth.

Rajjma’s Revenge
If the player sides with Rajjma, he lets the player help him with a plan to sabotage the Dunmer. Moreth has a special pair of expensive dancing shoes, which the Khajiit stole right after Moreth’s last performance. Rajjma has also captured a small stinging insect, related to the Shalk, which he plans to hide in the shoes. The Dunmer is scheduled to dance the next day at 6:00, and the Khajiit wants the player to claim that they recovered the shoes before his performance.
Starting at 6:00 pm, the player can talk to Rajjma to get the bugged shoes. They then have an up to 15 minute grace window during which they can offer Moreth back his shoes through dialogue. The player claims that they had talked to the Khajiit and bullied him into returning the shoes.
If the player does not do this, the Dunmer performs at 6:15 sharp (He alternates between a dancing animation, preferably not the one from the House of Earthly Delights, and playing the lute – ideally, an animation accompanied by a lute/guitar song playing) and the player fails the quest.
If the player does give Moreth the shoes, they listen to him noticing something moving in his shoe. The player is forced to close the window. Immediately afterward the Dunmer jumps up and down awkwardly for ~30 seconds, after which he runs upstairs in shame. Talking to the inn’s patrons about Moreth allows them to joke and laugh about the bard’s ridiculous antics. The player can then return to Rajjma for a reward, and talking to Darayne also gives them a reward. Returning later, Moreth has a lowered disposition. He is too embarassed to dance in the inn ever again and admits that he has been defeated by the player and Rajjma.

Reconciliation
The player can strong-arm or coerce the bards into making nice and performing together. Rather than by using persuasion, the player does this through dialogue. The player has a debate with each bard consisting of a three-part dialogue tree about the merits of their rival, the shortcomings of the performer in question, and the benefits of a double act. There are three sets of three speech options – a bully option, a diplomatic option, and and an escape option that exits the dialogue tree.
The dialogue tree should look something like this, though more eloquent: 
>reconciliation
RAJJMA: This one does not care for the serious Dunmer. Rajjma does not understand why he does not like to smile. How can a bard entertain if he himself cannot be entertained?
>At least he can walk straight and carry a tune.                                              >Moreth is a gifted musician and dancer.                  >You’re right. My mistake.
RAJJMA: The %playerrace should watch %his/her tongue before                    RAJJMA: Rajjma does not like to admit it, but            RAJJMA: This one does not
Rajjma gets angry. This one needs no music to make his audience happy.     the %playerrace has a point. The sour Dunmer          to discuss this anymore.
And Rajjma thinks it is better not to leap around like a toad.                         can do two things better than Rajjma. Only two.        [EXIT]

etc. 

If the player chooses to exit at any point for either performer, they fail the reconciliation ending. This does not end the quest unless the player has locked themselves out of the others.
If instead the player talks through the dialogue trees for each bard, then the two agree to perform the next day at 6:00 pm. When the player arrives, the performance combines both their strengths – alternating jokes and anecdotes with music and dancing. The player can then collect rewards from the innkeeper and the two bards. 
If the player returns to the inn later, there are more NPCs than earlier, and the two bards are on speaking terms again.

Usurpation
If the player has the official Entertainers plugin, they can talk to Darayne after approaching each bard and offer to entertain the patrons instead. She asks the player to perform the next day at 6:00 pm. The player can perform as in the Five Plates. This results in a disposition drop from both bards and a reward from Darayne, in addition to the performance reward.

Reward:
If the player completes a revenge quest, they recieve a free skill boost rom the bard they helped (Acrobatics for Moreth, Speechcraft from Rajjma) and a special item from each (Moreth’s old [Exquisite] dancing shoes or Rajjma’s copy of A Less Rude Song). They also receive a bottle of flin on the house from Darayne.
If the player completes the reconciliation plotline, they receive a free skill boost from each bard and Darayne will let them rent a room for free.
If the player completes the usurpation plotline, they receive the flin, a free room, and up to 100 gold from Darayne.
If the player betrays both bards against each other, they receive no reward. 
If the player kills either or both bards, they receive no reward and Darayne refuses to serve the player.
If the player kills Darayne, the quest fails with no reward.
 

 

Spoiler: Original Post

Premise: A Dunmer Bard wants you to settle the score with a Khajiit rival.

Assets needed:
Moreth’s lute

Locations:
An inn
A jail

Characters:
Moreth Helsim, a Dunmer bard in an inn.
Rajjma, a Khajiit bard in the same inn

Summary:
The player hears rumors that the local inn’s bard has a grudge against a Khajiit. When the player talks to the bard, Moreth, he mentions that he has been looking for someone to help him knock “that mangy cat” down a few pegs. He complains that Rajjma mocks his playing and has been driving his audiences away, and makes several racist comments to that end. He slyly suggests that Rajjma has been in trouble with the law before, and that if the Khajiit were to be caught with skooma again, as Khajiit are known to do, he would be thrown in jail. He hands the player a bottle of skooma and tells them to hide it in the chest in Rajjma’s room in the inn.
If the player breaks into Rajjma’s room and places the skooma in the chest (which contains a lute and some gold), they find upon doing so, even if they were undetected, that there is a large bounty on their head – more than for merely breaking and entering. If they choose to pay the fine or remove the bounty in any way, they can ask any guard about Rajjma to learn that he is being held in the jail; if arrested, they can see him there himself. When the player is released from jail, or after learning where he is, they can talk to them. He tells them cheerfully that he bears them no ill will, to wait 24 hours for his sentence to expire, and to meet him at the inn after.
If instead of breaking and entering, the player goes directly to Rajjma and warns him, he reveals that the operation is a set-up: Moreth has been planning to get him for several weeks now, and if an outlander were to get in trouble as well, that would be “two racers with one spear”. He takes the skooma and advises the player to lay low and meet him back at the inn in 24 hours.
Back at the inn the next day, Rajjma reveals that he came to town a few weeks ago. Without a shred of modesty, he confides that Moreth is jealous of Rajjma’s prowess with the lute, his razor wit, and his popularity with the ladies, and conspired to remove him from the picture in the hopes that the Khajiit would leave town in disgrace. He asks the player to help him get even with Moreth by sabotaging his performance. To do so, he asks them to steal the Dunmer’s lute. Moreth’s lute is in his room in the inn, left carelessly beside his bed. 
When the player gives it to Rajjma, the Khajiit tells you he will sabotage it in time for Moreth’s next performance, and offers to buy them a drink.
If the player returns to Rajjma at a later date, the Khajiit jubilates that the plan worked, and buys you another drink.

Reward:
1 bottle of flin initially. If the player returns later, he buys them another bottle of flin. In addition, if the player approached Rajjma instead of following Moreth’s plan, he teaches them some raunchy jokes, levelling their Speechcraft by 1.

 

 
Mortimer's picture
Mortimer
Senior DeveloperQuest Reviewer
Joined:
2016-06-10 21:48
Last seen:
23 hours 33 sec ago

I like the quest idea. I would put in some extra flavor text on how Rajjma is actually an upstanding citizen who has never tried skooma in his life, just to double down on the “Moreth is an awful racist” part. What kind of sabotage would Rajjma be doing? You could go the “he put fireworks in it” route and have Moreth be dead or injured, or the simple “he switched the strings so Moreth could never play a note, which made Moreth so embarassed he left town”.

Kevaar's picture
Kevaar
Developer EmeritusQuest Developer
Joined:
2016-01-19 19:35
Last seen:
1 year 6 months ago

One problem is, if I recall correctly, if you talk to a guard with a large bounty on your head, the only thing they’ll say to you is the dialogue dealing with the fine.  Another possibility is that we don’t make the bounty be an actual bounty, but have a guard accost the player after, say, coming out of Rajjima’s house. If the player refuses to “pay” the bounty to that unique guard, then the real bounty kicks in, but otherwise, they have that opportunity to ask about Rajjima without game mechanics getting in the way.

Not sure I like the racism bit though. To me, racism is a more complicated subject than “X hates all Ys”. There’s usually some history or a particular aspect of the race that’s inflaming the stereotype and/or hatred. Moreth has that history with Rajjima: the Khajiit is a competitor and if his bluster is any clue, he’s probably sabotaged Moreth before this. (I don’t think we should downplay Rajjima’s possible fault in the matter either; vanilla Morrowind was very good at making everyone morally gray. I like the idea of making the sabotage be potentially fatal, to give the moral dilemma an extra kick). But it still makes no sense for why Moreth would have it out for the player.

Perhaps we could could add a latest rumor talking about Moreth attacking a <insert player race here> and dumping them in the canal after a drunken performance in the tavern. That at least adds precedent, even if doesn’t explain why Moreth hates the player’s race. Another possibility is to put this into a faction questline, where Moreth is a member of the opposing faction (say Thieves Guild and Moreth is Camonna Tong, or Fighter’s Guild). Either way, then there’s a history and a motive behind Moreth’s hateful actions towards the player.  It’s not just “oh, by the way, you rolled the wrong race” which comes across as too random and SJW to me.

It doesn’t need a huge involved story where toddler Moreth watched his parents be brutally murdered before his very eyes...just a little extra detail or something to round it all out. :)

Abagarlas's picture
Abagarlas
Joined:
2016-06-14 05:24
Last seen:
7 years 8 months ago

I have overhauled the quest completely to be more fleshed out.

Kevaar's picture
Kevaar
Developer EmeritusQuest Developer
Joined:
2016-01-19 19:35
Last seen:
1 year 6 months ago

Quite different from your original idea, but I like it. The scripting may be difficult (I’m not sure if we have any dancing or lute-playing animations for instance; TES3 as a game came out before NPC emotes was a common thing in RPGs) but I think there’s enough wiggle room in the story’s logic we can make changes to those pieces as needed. Very nice!

Kevaar's picture
Kevaar
Developer EmeritusQuest Developer
Joined:
2016-01-19 19:35
Last seen:
1 year 6 months ago

Transferred to asset browser. In state of near completion; location needs to be chosen. Keep this thread for record of old quest design.

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