Factional & Major Questlines For Map1

[Starcrunch]

None.

-Starcrunch

[Bloodthirsty Crustacean]

Well that's quite interesting then. I was considering a quest for the Temple (Whenever they pop up. Map 2?) in which the player intercepts some smugglers bringing in Ash Statues. Just inspired by finding a ship-wreck with ash statues in it, on the Bitter Coast.

Just to tie in with all those rumours that fly around at the start of Morrowind's MQ. And of course, that wouldn't make sense for them to smuggle it in if they already had a presence on the mainland.

[fanfas]

Well as far as i can see, if such quest would be approved it would have to be given by the imperial legion or something, after all the empire is responsable for keeping the quarentine on Vvendafell i think. But it would be a cool quest anyway.

[wogya]

The PC was going to be transported into two coupled hemi-spheres of this static and surrounded by collision boxes. This will actually give them the illusion of swimming endlessly as they don't really move realtive to the sky, and there is no other frame of reference. If that idea dose not work, I'll try something else. Waterwalking could turn out to be trouble.

If the collision box is too small (like a floating rock,literally) then the player goes right through. If the collision box is big enough (like under the ice in lake Fjalding), casting water walking gives a message box saying something like "you cannot cast that spell effect right now". Equipping a CE water walking enchanted item under a big collision box will not add the spell effect to the player. If you are already under the effect of water walking and teleport to an underwater cell below a collision box, the spell effect is removed. Your idea should work fine.

-Wogya

[Starcrunch]

The collision boxes won't be too small. This thread needs to bend back around to major plot lines and away from technical details (there is a time and place for nitty gritty things like how to script and build a quest, but it's not here). By way of doing this let me try to list the things we have and need.

What we've already got:

• Thieves' Guild (Groza)
• Mage's Guild (Groza)
• Telvanni Mouth quests (Starcrunch)
• Bal Gernak's side of the Eldale/Bal Gernak Conflict (Lud)

Things we need to do:

• Pull apart my old Temple line and decide what belongs on Map 1 and what waits for Necrom in Map 2. Close off loose ends caused by this division.
• Add to and rewrite the Molag Bal cult line; needs to be about 25 quests, these guys are nasty pieces of work so anyone who wants to indulge in being "evil," well this is about as close as you can get to a really "evil" faction. Daedra may not be good or evil, but Molag Bal doesn't have many positive qualities.
• Develop a new Imperial Cult line (perhaps just cribbing from the early portions of my old version of this line) as it need to be made smaller (~6-7 quests).
• Develop a new FG line, though I'd advise keeping the first 3 quests at least from Theo's old line as I have them already made and they seem to be solid FG quests (~7-8 quests I'd guess).
• Develop 2-3 pocket world quests with Archmagister Dral (I don't see my mouth quest as really being one of these). The world can be different each time though keep in mind that entry and leaving the pocket world will be tightly controlled. If you can look in the finished interiors forum you can see i1-58 for what the pocket world will look like for its part in the MQ.
• Develop 1 quest for each Telvanni master (6 quests in all).
• Quest line to get Faruna kicked out of the Telvanni Parliament (~3-4 quests). Should provide an alternative method that convinces her to step down to pursue her research (a major part of Faruna's life).
• Quest line dealing with gaining support of Master Mithras if the player ignores his advice in the MQ (and most will). Can either be coercive or not. I have no real clue here, and can't really see doing this in any reasonable way that doesn't make Mithras look really stupid (should be 3-4 quests)
• Lower priority: Develop a few quests for the Imperial Legion (following the MQ in my opinion, probably best to wait for Lud's release of that).
• Lower priority: Morag Tong. I think we are waiting on them. I do feel that rather than being whole province wide, we should set these quests up every 2nd province, otherwise players will have to wait a very long time to engage in any Morag Tong hits.
• Lower priority: There is a Dwemer ruin in (20, 23) named Manzirache (sp) with a ship docked outside of it. This site has been proposed for several quests all of which seem to have fallen through. It really is begging for a quest. I appologize if the site is used for something already (link please?).

-Starcrunch

[groza528]

First off, I wanted to say that I consoled all my stats up to 1000 and didn't notice any change in lung capacity.
As for the other stuff you mentioned, I agree for the most psrt. I think the dwemer ruin shold be incorporated into one of the faction lines, rather than putting a new misc on it. And I'm certainly starting to agree with putting MT quests over two maps instead of the whole province. 1/2, 4/5, 3/6 seems like the best split to me, geographically speaking. However, I do believe that there should only be one script that keeps getting added to for redeeming writs (that is, a guard in Tear will recognize a writ on someone in Bahrammu.) We could even make mainland guards recognize Vv writs and vice versa without breaking our policy of not changing bethesda's work; we just put in another dialogue entry that would supersede the existing one.
Also, I'm not sure the IC line needs to be made any smaller, really. If we consider that all of the Vv IC quests were based out of Ebonheart, which was the largest imperial settlement, and if we say that maps 1 and 2 together are roughly the size of Vv, then there should be approximately the same number of IC quests in Firewatch as there were in Ebonheart (maybe a little less because of the minimal Empire strength in the area, but I think 6-7 is too small if you have all three branches of the IC represented)
Edit: Ah, but here's the rub: Yes, Firewatch should have a similar IC quest length to Ebonheart, but half of those should be in map 2. And so we have a similar issue to the Morag Tong.

[Starcrunch]

@IC: True. The lines for the 3 branches as written are possibly ok. Obviously the conflict line needs to be removed. I feel that while the Vv only had IC quests from Ebonheart, we're going to have to run ours from a couple of different locations. Well developed candidates are FW, Darconis, OE (this should probably have a major line involving the IC as it is the largest Imperial settlement in Morrowind), and Black Light. Should each of these (and other Imperial cities I'm not thinking of) have IC quests?

EDIT: You edited while I posted. So I see the reasoning. If half of them are on Map 2 then the line needs to be rewritten . Darconis is a larger city, but to me it feels more right to run these out of FW, which is much richer and more orderly. I'd really say we hold off on the IC until map 2 if we go this route as we don't want it to be only the first half is on map 1 while only the second half is on map 2. Map 3 (OE) should be the place the IC (and many other Imperial Guilds) get their day in the sun.

@Dwemer Ruin: Any chance of incorporating it into the MG, maybe tack on one extra quest? I know you've already worked out the quests, but the folks on the boat aren't really what you'd expect from a Telvanni expedition and these are the only two groups with real interest in the Dwemer. Though I suppose a Telvanni quest could be written to stop the expedition.

-Starcrunch

[groza528]

I was thinking there might be something basic we could do with the FG there. Let me check out the ruins.

[Bloodthirsty Crustacean]

HI STRYKER!1!

Wasn't there some talk of an archaeological guild/organization?

[Starcrunch]

The IAS (Imperial Archaeological Society). It may or may not see the light of day in Map 2. I made the interior for their base in Darconis. They were meant to play a major role in the quest (unspecified) for the super-ruin of Kemel-Ze (Telvanni village of Marog; Map 2, south of Darconis on the west coast IIRC). Currently I've no idea what is going to happen to Kemel-Ze, and depending on its fate the IAS may be scrapped as a joinable faction. The expedition to Manzirache should probably be an IAS operation, but the quest should be given as part of another organization (IAS faction quests if they exist at all, will probably be confined mostly to Map 2 and/or 3). Groza's idea of including it as an FG quest seems a sound way to go that I hadn't considered. Any other ideas would be welcome . We'll have to deal with Kemel-Ze in good time...

-Starcrunch

[Starcrunch]

Temple Quest line posted. Basically I lopped off the end and put in a, "go to Necrom ending" the line will be completed as part of Map 2 (by adapting the already posted conflict line to suit the changed circumstances). I am considering the removal, relocation, or complete rewriting of TT3, as GO has a different vampire related plot in its misc. quests and this would muddy the waters overly so. This is really very similar to the previous proposal, it's just received a minor twink to it's end and a few minor corrections throughout.

A very open ended quest for Mistress Faruna is proposed here in the second download. It's adapted from an old misc. quest of mine, that was never used (and probably only rarely read, it's been mostly reworded to be more clear as well). It's quite long, and I mean for it to be a necessary step to getting her to step down the "nice" way, but even if the PC fails this quest (or doesn't do it) they can still depose her the "mean" way. Note that neither way has been determined in great detail, but I paint a very broad picture at the end of how I'm thinking about the "nice" method. I'll update this file as I think of things for the other Masters of the House.

EDIT: Faruna's quest attachment removed, you can find it later in a new post, along with an additional quest.

-Starcrunch

[Nomadic1]

I remember that questline It was very good, and it does lead nicely to the nice way of deposing Faruna.

[groza528]

Been discussing a few FG quests with Crunch; hoping to have a full line up tonight. Watch this space.
I'll read your lines when I have time Crunch.

[Bloodthirsty Crustacean]

Being a big Temple/Redoran fan, I've had a look over the Temple quests, and I like the idea of the 'generic' quest givers for the Temple being related to the 'main' storyline, and then passing the player on to that when they are finished.

Only thing I was unsure about was that the player is going to have to do six pilgrimages for each two maps. (That's eighteen in total if they want to get the most out of the Temple).

Perhaps have these different pilgrimages for each Map (an idea I like), but make it so that a global is increased upon each completion, and that once the counter reaches six, the normal quests can begin, and pilgrimage quests are ignored (regardless of whether the player has completed them).

This adds some replay value, in that the player can do different pilgrimages each time, and also prevents them from having to go through all eighteen.

[groza528]

What do you mean when you say "standard ES3 code?" There were several different codes in Morrowind; The Telvanni had one that was different from the Hlaalu one that was different from Sottilde's codebook (to the best of my knowledge, the Hlaalu code has not yet been decrypted... at least there is no translation at TIL)
I don't think the Temple would write anything in daedric, even as part of a code. That is, unless you intended for this to use the Telvanni code, which I suppose is reasonable-- that's the one that *is* in daedric. But if you're looking for a new code I have an idea; we'll chat on IRC. Maybe we'll save it for Indoril or Dres instead.

[Bloodthirsty Crustacean]

I don't think the Temple would write anything in daedric, even as part of a code.

Remember, there are Good Daedra.

Also, Daedric writing is used throughout Morrowind, on signs etc.

And, of course, where would the Temple be without Vehk, Seht and Ayem?

[groza528]

Hmm... ok, I buy that. I just didn't like the thought of a temple writing in daedric script and then fighting deadric worshippers later in the line, but I guess there's no reason it's against lore.

[Starcrunch]

@General Temple thoughts: There is only one temple quest giver on Map 1. There will probably be more than one in Map 2. I fully intend to keep the pilgrimage requirements to do quests on every other map (each pair of which is roughly a Vv sized land mass). This is because pilgrimages are an important part of Temple life and they provide background on the Tribunal religion that I find quite fascinating. Of course public uproar (and Lud's word!) may change my mind . A main line of Temple quests extends into Map 2. Also Map 2 will probably feature a significant Temple vs. Telvanni line (that you get hints of in Vaerin's mouth quests, and a misc. quest in GO). There will probably also be a series of Map 2 temple quests that focus on helping person X do task Y (like many of the Vv quests). I imaging the Temple will also get nice amounts of play in Map 3 and 4 (Indoril and Redoran territory). I'm not that sure about other maps, though I see them as being quite limited in Dres territory.

On a side note: It's nice to see someone else say nice things about the Temple; I really enjoy that faction but many people only seem interested in explaining how much they hate Vivec...

@code: I'll be making a new code since more than one has appeared (I believe at some time in an incarnation of these quests someone complained about me not using "the standard TES code" and I changed it). This correspondence is secret, even revelation of its existence could (and did in the case of Ratagos' predecessor) ruin careers, even though it is rebuking the IC. Every possible precaution is being taken. Originally this was a reciprocal message for an IC quest (and the same code would have been used). It's not really important at this stage, particularly since it's a matter of changing 1 line in a book ref.to convert between daedric and normal fonts. Bloody is right about it being common though, it's also featured in the standard Temple banners as well, IIRC.

@Quests: I have a new quest for Mistress Eldale I was working on last night. I'll edit this post (unless someone replies ) with it as soon as I get done typing it up (it's currently only in hand-written note form).

-Starcrunch

[Bloodthirsty Crustacean]

@General Temple thoughts: There is only one temple quest giver on Map 1. There will probably be more than one in Map 2. I fully intend to keep the pilgrimage requirements to do quests on every other map (each pair of which is roughly a Vv sized land mass). This is because pilgrimages are an important part of Temple life and they provide background on the Tribunal religion that I find quite fascinating. Of course public uproar (and Lud's word!) may change my mind . A main line of Temple quests extends into Map 2. Also Map 2 will probably feature a significant Temple vs. Telvanni line (that you get hints of in Vaerin's mouth quests, and a misc. quest in GO). There will probably also be a series of Map 2 temple quests that focus on helping person X do task Y (like many of the Vv quests). I imaging the Temple will also get nice amounts of play in Map 3 and 4 (Indoril and Redoran territory). I'm not that sure about other maps, though I see them as being quite limited in Dres territory.

On a side note: It's nice to see someone else say nice things about the Temple; I really enjoy that faction but many people only seem interested in explaining how much they hate Vivec...

Absolutely, those pilgrimages were always some of my favourite quests. I just feel that forcing "Average Joe Gamer" to go through eighteen pilgrimages before they can get started on the real work will put anyone off the Temple, and also make doing those quests tedious on replays.

That's why I think we should make the player do only six, and have a counter so that they can do any six they want. Perhaps they could also ask for them later? (i.e have a seperate topic "pilgrimages" which the player is always referred to from "duties" before six are complete, but which they can revisit at any time, should they wish to)

And yeah, the Temple (and Redoran, and now possibly Indoril) was what got me really into Morrowind. And personally, I love the Tribunal! (Nerevarine Shmeravarine)

[Starcrunch]

I just feel that forcing "Average Joe Gamer" to go through eighteen pilgrimages before they can get started on the real work will put anyone off the Temple, and also make doing those quests tedious on replays.

They will only have to go through 6 to play the meat of Map 1 and 2's Temple quests (and only 3 before the release of Map 2). They have to go through a different 6 to play Map 3 and 4's Temple quests, and a 3rd group of 6 to play Map 5 and 6's quests. Note the maps may be divided differently; I haven't really thought about exactly how to pair things beyond Map 1 and 2. They won't have to play through all 18 to open other temple quests, just the 6 for the region they want to do quests in. If they want to play ALL temple quests they will over the course of all the maps have to make 18 pilgrimages (and maybe a few more like the ones to the Four Corners of the House of Trouble on Vv that will be specific assignments to advance in rank).

-Starcrunch

[Bloodthirsty Crustacean]

Yes, but that's the point. I for one wouldn't feel that I'd completed the Temple on the mainland until I'd actually completed all the various questlines.

As far as I'm aware, TR is still having the mainland factions as unified factions, not three seperate factions for the map pairings. (This could be wrong)

So, it would be like having to complete the Pilgrimage of the Seven Graces for every other quest giver on Vvardenfell. And that seems to 'tedious' to me. Like I said, six compulsary, the rest optional seems a good idea.

But actually, seeing as each map pairing is the size of Vvardenfell, I am starting to warm to the idea. Perhaps it's not too bad. And, yes, like you say, it provides much interesting background on the Temple.

[groza528]

There's another option. You could run pilgrimages under a separate dialogue topic from other quests and keep track of them in a global variable. Then check in every once in a while when the player is starting a normal quest and say "You're a valuable asset to the Temple, but some of the priests are beginning to question your commitment to Almsivi. You should complete some more pilgrimages to renew your faith." Similar to the way you need to do a certain number of jobs to advance in any guild.

[Starcrunch]

New quest for Eldale in Master's quest line. It's a pretty nice quest but involves a reasonably major TES world NPC (Medora Direnni and her lesser known relative Vorian Direnni), so people may want to take a look at it from a lore perspective, though I think it's pretty good lore wise.

EDIT: Good idea, Groza. I like that. I still want them to need 6-7 to start any temple quests at all, but then they can be kept track of as you say.

-Starcrunch

[fanfas]

I'm with you starcrunch i think the temple should have a lot of pilgrimages, after all they are worshipers... i think that should have been more in Vvenderfell.... also when all it's done i think a last gigantic one should be made before you be named the patriarch of the mainland faction (this is one that goes through all maps).

[groza528]

Fighter's Guild, anyone?

[Bloodthirsty Crustacean]

There's another option. You could run pilgrimages under a separate dialogue topic from other quests and keep track of them in a global variable. Then check in every once in a while when the player is starting a normal quest and say "You're a valuable asset to the Temple, but some of the priests are beginning to question your commitment to Almsivi. You should complete some more pilgrimages to renew your faith." Similar to the way you need to do a certain number of jobs to advance in any guild.

Isn't that what I suggested? Or is it now spread throughout the questline?

Also, @fanfas, I've nothing against pilgrimages, I just didn't like the idea of having to do eighteen before the whole qestline is opened.

Personally, I prefer either Groza's way, with "pilgrimages" being a seperate 'quest option' like "special jobs" (or something) for the Morag Tong, and X many must be completed before you can get advancement/a new quest. Or my way, with only X many pilgrimages needing to be completed out of the eighteen before you can start your quests (and the rest availiable later).

Actually, thinking about it I prefer it Groza's way (perhaps with doing pilgrimages something that would be a new requirement for advancement for the Temple)

[fanfas]

Well it's hard to be a monk... so if you want to be one you have to suffer

But yes i do understand your point of view.

[groza528]

There's another option. You could run pilgrimages under a separate dialogue topic from other quests and keep track of them in a global variable. Then check in every once in a while when the player is starting a normal quest and say "You're a valuable asset to the Temple, but some of the priests are beginning to question your commitment to Almsivi. You should complete some more pilgrimages to renew your faith." Similar to the way you need to do a certain number of jobs to advance in any guild.

Isn't that what I suggested? Or is it now spread throughout the questline?

The difference between my suggestion and yours, at least the way I interpreted it, is you said "6 required and the rest optional" and I said "6 required to start and the rest required eventually but not right away."

So... fighters guild? Any comments?

[Theo]

I like the fighters guild quest you have there. Nice, simple and full of variety. If you feel like you can add some nice twists to the quests, but perhaps it is better to keep them for major questlines, which is not the case of M1 FG and make this as simple and straightforward as possible.
Still, try to make every quest unique experience. For example simple 'kill bandit' quest will impress nobody, but you can script the fight with him a bit or make sure he is in an intriguing interior or has unique fighting skills.

[Bloodthirsty Crustacean]

Pretty much what Theo said, my only worry is that that whole "trapped in the tomb" thing might be beyond Morrowind's scripting capabilities. It would be easy in Oblivion, but I'm not sure how Morrowind could or would handle it.

EDIT: Also, the ending to the final quest seems a bit 'cruel' for the Fighter's Guild. But hey, they're no Redorans.

[groza528]

I don't think trapped in the tomb is beyond scripting. There's a function to determine when an actor is standing on an object. It just means the platform has to be an activator rather than a static.
And maybe it's a little cruel, but the idea is to kill the guy anyway. We're just taking advantage of his death to rescue one of our own, too

I'll see what I can do about spicing up the "kill the bandit" quest. Open to suggestions.

[Thrignar Fraxix]

bandit is an old lady (but still a bandit)
Bandit is not a bandit, but an actual old lady (not a bandit this time)
Robin Hood like bandit
Bandit who only steals food and enough other things to get by
Bandit with a poor sickly wife
Bandit who has been robbed by another bandit
Go looking for a bandit and find a cliff racer over his corpse(not really much of a quest)
Bandit/generic crazy person who throws various items (i.e. plates, books, booze)
The nixhound bandit, who with his team of trained nix hounds terrorizes unwary travelors.
A band of rats that work together to attack and kill people. (mistaken for humanoid bandits)

[Starcrunch]

Comments on the FG:

FG1: I may have told you the wrong name for this quest (I can't quite recall the right NPC). Also it was designed that you escort him to the bar, and confront the goons (just outside the door). This doesn't matter so much as I don't think it will be very hard to adapt the current job; n the other hand I don't see a reason not to leave it as is. I'll put up the design docs for the 3 quests I made whe I remember to bring them from home (i.e. tommorrow).

FG2: This one is like we talked about. Seems very solid.

FG3: Small technical note. Use non-respawn creatures here in place of the current respawning creatures. Possibly remove creatures from the entry cell, as they have been previosly slain by the expedition.

FG4: Seems good. Need to remove all NPC's during the night. Use one unique chest that can be made to unlock, and emptied if the PC fails to perform. Also make sure there is no bed in the interior (then the PC can't sleep!), but allow them to wait (I've already made those scripts, they just need to be relocated to the new location). Technical matters: Obvious theivery can be detected. Make a list of all the items you need to include that you don't want stolen and I can write the scripts. It bassically hinges on taking into account the PC's starting number of each item and then comparing it continuously. If the number ever gets higher than the starting, the PC has stolen something and set a flag. The smaller the list the easier and the list cannot be unreasonably large. Also a PC could "steal" by setting down items of the same type they already possess and the taking the NPC's goods, but this loophole would not be easily recognized. These scripts have also been written, but need to be updated with items for the new location (instead of for Green-Eyes shop).

FG5: No complaints of note. I'd like to advise making the raising and lowering of the barrier involve some geneuine "special effects" scripting so as not to appear overly hokie. Probably a genuinely raising and lowering of a partition. This script can be written as part of the interior as it will refer to nothing that is part of the
quest itself. The scripting of something like this is quite straight forward; I've an example in a tomb in Map 2 that you can look at if you can see finished exteriors, where the PC must summon the proper creature based on a puzzle, at the proper location to progress through the tomb (it is the Vaerin Ancestral Tomb, i2-327). These scripts will be a little bit easier than those I woul think, as there is no need to check that it is the proper creature.

FG6: Standard FG fair.

FG7: This one is basically as I implemented it previously. The unique guar already exist because this quest was previously merged. Some minor dialog rewrite will be needed to mention Rathra not caring and to place the quest as FG7 rather than FG1 (which is what it was before).

FG8: Nice solution, though rather twisted . But lets face the facts, you have two options here:

• 1.) Take him out in the woods and beat him to death.
• 2.) Free your ally and leave him to die. Incidentally you could also murder him on the platform, to hold him there. IIRC the contact/standing on functions still return true.

Is the soultion we talked about using a rat out (it seems maybe a bit silly in retrospect). Jink blades have pretty short durations...that may not be enough. Maybe a long duration version that only has enough charge for 1 hit before needing to "rest" or be recharged? Perhaps obtain it from the MG, and be asked to return it?

-Starcrunch

[Lud]

Good to see so many great ideas and quest plans here, I should disappear more often.

Groza, your FG line seems mostly solid.
Some notes:
FG4: Instead of removing the bed, simply change the script on it so that if the player is doing that quest, they can't use it.

FG5: Personally, I'm pretty firmly against using modders' handles in NPC/locations etc. While I do agree that Groza sounds like it could be an orc's name, we could very well end up with the situation where we have to stop people adding themselves in willy-nilly. Imagine seeing an NPC called (random example) Sload.
If you want to PM me a precise design description, I'll add a claim for such a tomb to the browser.

FG7: I don't see why we can't get away with one simple "kill this guy" quest as long as we only do it very rarely.

FG8: Needs something to spice it up a bit. When this one has been touched up, I'll approve the line.

Crunch, I like what I see with the Temple line, you've cut it apart quite nicely. Consider this one pretty much approved as a design.

Ok, what we need now for map1 factional quest planning is as follows:
-Molag Bal line
-IC line (filch bits of the old line)
-2-3 Dral quests
-2-3 Mithras quests
-quests to take Faruna's place, one nasty way and one nice way

The many strands of these often highly political quests are complex and the player needs a guide of some sort. They will appear in the Council Hall after the MQ and give lots of advice on how to progress, as well as explaining the political situation to them. I'm thinking an ambitious dunmer who offers his (or her) help in return for getting the Mouth position when you get onto the Council.

On Dral:
-First of all think of an idea for a crazy int, then tack a quest on top. (This should be more about his realm than about him, and I'd like to get the required ints into the browser)

On Mithras:
Instead of coercing him, if the player has pissed him off, they will have to discredit him on the Council. This makes a lot more sense, and fits Mithras' character much better. (Nice thread of Telvanni intrigue too) This quest should be given by the confidant NPC I mentioned earlier.

Crunch: I like the whole Direnni quest idea and it seems quite solid lore-wise to me. I'm no expert, so maybe you should ask somebody like Gez or Nomadic.

This gives us a large but doable number of Telvanni quests. all leading up to getting the Council seat. Perhaps we should brainstorm for some quests/actions/other rewards after getting onto the Council.

I'll work on Eldale tonight.
I'll also post up the Mouth Quests as claims very soon.

[Nomadic1]

The Direnni quest seems solid lorewise. The only thing iffy is the castellan of the adamantine tower travelling to Morrowind in person for the key.

A quest idea for Dral:

Dral was once but an apprentice of an older Telvanni Councillor, Mistress Hlenu (change name if you want). Mistress Hlenu was one of the pioneers of the development of pocket realms by mortal kind. A former councillor, she left the council and moved permanently to her pocket realm in c. 2E547 just before the Kamal of Akavir destroyed her Telvanni town of Tel Mothrivra in their invasion of Tamriel.

Unfortunately Hlenu left with a lot of bad blood between herself and Dral, and Dral has not forgotten. After the two began to disagree on every matter, Hlenu stole a family artifact of the Dral family (or some important artifact of Dral himself), which she hoped to use to force Dral into her side, and she took it with her when she left. Dral decides to send the PC to her pocket realm to a) recover the artifact, and b) to punish her by sending her realm into freefall in the voidstreams of Oblivion by severing the anchors of the realm. He wants her to suffer, not to be killed. He is not at all happy if the PC kills her.

Dral has spent centuries tracing the location of the Pocket Realm and how to open a gate to it. And so it is that he can only open a gate to the realm (and not back from it) so the PC will have to find a way to return to Nirn on their own. Once the PC is ready, a portal is opened and the PC can go to the realm.

The realm itself needs some desription. The realm is a nice fertile wonderland with trees and lots of pools filled with pretty fish. Imagine the realm itself is shaped like a triangle. Each of the corners of the triangle contain an anchor. In the middle of the triangle is where Hlenu built her tower in the realm, and where the gate to and from Nirn is located. Hlenu did not move to her realm on her own - she took some slaves with her to provide her basic material needs. They live in the basement of the tower. The tower would work better in the Velothi tileset to avoid arguments over whether or not mushroom towers existed back then.

The three tasks the PC has to do:
a) Find the artifact
b) Sever the anchors
c) Find a way back to Nirn

A) The artifact is just lying around with all the other junk she took with her but has no use for. It is locked in a storage room in her private quarters. That means the PC has to break into there and avoid her. It shouldn't be too hard because she lives at the top of the tower - basic knowledge of anyone who knows anything about Telvanni, and the PC can find out anyway by asking the slaves. The trouble will be entering the room - the PC will need to pick the lock or open with a spell, and will need to pick the trap or suffer it. A scroll which would open the door is located at the top of the tower - which means the PC has to face Hlenu. She will interrogate the PC and then try to kill them. She also has a key to the room.

B) Severing the anchors is the hard part. The slaves don't know anything about how the realm works, and they are too scared to leave the basement and lower levels of the tower to find out. If the PC goes to the anchors, they won't know what to do, but they will find a strange switch which doesn't work when pushed. The PC has to go to the top of the tower to find a book or scroll explaining how they work. They each need to be activated first by offering of different Daedric salts into a magic bowl - fire, frost and void (the PC can't just activate the bowls without knowing what they do). The PC can either steal the salts from her quarters, use ones they brought with them or just kill some atronach guards and take theirs. Once all three have been deactivated, the sky of the realm begins to change (a rotate script or a new activator of rushing red stars) and the PC can now think of returning.

C) If the PC asks the slaves about activating the gate, they will find out that it is the artifact the PC had to steal that opens it - it turns out that it is an extremely powerful item that allows for the selective opening of doors between the Daedric realms. But when the PC severs all three anchors, Hlenu realises what has happened and is waiting at the gate for the PC. She then interrogates the PC (again if the PC went up to her quarters and was spotted by her) but lets the PC leave if they are honest in their answers. Otherwise she tries to kill the PC and they have to run to gate to escape.

* The PC can also kill slaves or let them escape with them for 200 gold per slave by Dral. He didn't know about them and is glad for the chaos they will cause her if their number is lessened. The slaves can only escape if the PC is allowed to leave by Hlenu.

Once they return to Nirn, Dral is happy to have his artifact back and rewards the PC handsomely. If the PC killed Hlenu he is angry that his revenge went awry, and secretly sets some nasty curse on the PC (along with a modest reward so the PC doesn't wisen up immediately).

[Starcrunch]

Ok, what we need now for map1 factional quest planning is as follows:
-Molag Bal line
-IC line (filch bits of the old line)
-2-3 Dral quests
-2-3 Mithras quests
-quests to take Faruna's place, one nasty way and one nice way

-Molag Bal has been tough on me, I've tried; but everything so far I've thought about has turned out very cliche .
-IC do we want to run both Map 1 and 2's IC quests out of FW? If so this needs a lot of work, if not pretty much the early line can be filched, with the back story cut out or marginalized.
-I'm working on the nice way to deal with Faruna, but have been a bit occupied with other things the last couple of days, I'll try to get something worked out over the weekend (broad brush of it is , the PC convinces her that research is more important than the council, after helping her find something interesting).
[quoteThe many strands of these often highly political quests are complex and the player needs a guide of some sort. They will appear in the Council Hall after the MQ and give lots of advice on how to progress, as well as explaining the political situation to them. I'm thinking an ambitious dunmer who offers his (or her) help in return for getting the Mouth position when you get onto the Council.[/quote]
The Darconis line a wrote also makes use of an adviser. Could he just go with the PC when they get sent to Darconis by Eldale/Rathra? It would tighten the story and save us from having to use two separate "advisor" like NPC's. The personality you have for him would be perfect for the role the adviser needs to play in Darconis, and if we made him originally from Darconis he could play the role I need him to play there very easily.

On Dral:
-First of all think of an idea for a crazy int, then tack a quest on top. (This should be more about his realm than about him, and I'd like to get the required ints into the browser)

I need a crazy int for the Direnni line and even if the Direnni quest falls through (I know my Direnni history, so I'm guessing it won't) we can still use the part related to Dral. The int is partially described in the quest line, but I'll try to flush out the description a bit more, particularly for the middle sections.

Perhaps we should brainstorm for some quests/actions/other rewards after getting onto the Council.

Hmm, since the PC can't possibly be on the council until after map 2, I think we can hold off on these unless a sudden fit of inspiration hits.

I'll also post up the Mouth Quests as claims very soon.

I think Rathra and Eldale's mouth quests should be claimed together.

EDIT: Nice quest Nomadic!

The Direnni quest seems solid lorewise. The only thing iffy is the castellan of the adamantine tower travelling to Morrowind in person for the key.

The castellan (boy I totally forgot that title) is actually there for the Herne summoning spell (a totally unpresedented feat of magic that Eldale has developed), the key is a secondary objective, but can and should be linked to something of moderate interest to the Direnni clan.

EDIT: RED just meant to highlight this since I added it many hour after the original post, not as any sort of emphasis. Just realized it could be interpreted as combative .

-Starcrunch

[groza528]

Changes to Fighter's Guild questline below.
FG4: I won't name the orc Groza. I wouldn't hesitate if this were my own personal mod, but since it is a community thing I defer to Lud, and I do understand his reasoning.
FG6: As per one of TF's suggestions, I will change the bandit to an old woman (though still a bandit.) Probably a redguard, since imo they have the best old woman face.
FG8: Adding a bit more spice, as discussed on IRC. If the player has already managed to free the trapped guild member, they will have a different non-lethal way of dealing with the stalker. They can tell him that they have learned the artifact is on a ship near Gah Ouadaruhn. You take him to the ship, which will be off the coast at the very southeastern edge of map 1, and you pay off the shipmaster to let you on (actually he has prearranged things with Galan.) He gives you the key, and you board the ship to "look for the artifact." In reality, you then lock the stalker aboard the ship, at which point he will be outraged, and ask what is going on (forcegreeting). The ship is bound for Elsweyr, and then on toward Sumerset.

[Gez]

FG5: Personally, I'm pretty firmly against using modders' handles in NPC/locations etc. While I do agree that Groza sounds like it could be an orc's name, we could very well end up with the situation where we have to stop people adding themselves in willy-nilly. Imagine seeing an NPC called (random example) Sload.

At least, one should be subtle about it. Batruk gro-Za, for example.

Crunch: I like the whole Direnni quest idea and it seems quite solid lore-wise to me. I'm no expert, so maybe you should ask somebody like Gez or Nomadic.

It's OK. While Medora was a prisoner in her own tower in Daggerfall, this changed after the Imperial Agent (Daggerfall's player character) brought her a unicorn horn taken from Nulfaga's castle, Shedungent, with which the Castellan could lift the curse that prevented her to leave the Direnni Tower.

The Daggerfall players will remember that Medora's chaperone/bodyguard (the monster just outside the door to her room) was an ancient lich. How many time have I destroyed it to talk with her...

[Akul]

I have not read the whole tread so please forgive me if I told something alredy said or something... stupid.

What about adding Dark Brotherhood as a playable faction? If I remember right, they are strong on mainland and their quests could be more interesting then the MT ones because you can't just come and kill him.

[Starcrunch]

The Dark Brotherhood is actually quite weak in all of Morrowind province. They are promintent in Tribunal because Heleseth has used them traditionally and lived in the West.

They will not be a playable faction because:

• 1.) it would be difficult to reconcile with the Tribunal MQ.
• 2.) they are weak and have little presence in Morrowind.

-Starcrunch