q2-30-Imp

[Haplo]

Claim type: Quest
Claim ID: TR_q2-30-Imp (#2518)
Faction: Imperial
Parent claim: TR_2-23-Ind (#86)
Claimed by: arvisrend
Status: Approved (Progress: 100%)
Location: 1:(3927, -1583):0
Files: TR_q2-30-Imp_arvisrend_12.esp

---

First claim for the Akamora Guild of Mages.

Guild NPCs:
Ranosa Orrels, Dunmer, Wizard, Enchanter service and Guild Steward.
Francine Aldard, Breton, Journeyman. Talented Mage yet slightly unaccustomed to Morrowind. Left the service of Rilmas Athyrion in Marog after a very short apprenticeship.
Polodie Floine, Breton, Apprentice. Alchemist, sells potions.
Mjara, Khajiit, Apprentice. Guild Guide. Escaped slave, used to be the property of Rilmas Athyrion.
Varona Andarys, Dunmer, Associate. Alchemist, offers training.

[Why]

[url=http://tamriel-rebuilt.org/old_forum/viewtopic.php?t=23820]For the sake of completeness, the discussion that led to these designs. Feel free not to read it, I'm just linking it so it doesn't get lost in case we do want to refer back to it.[/url]

Claim one, all about our alchemists. These quests can pretty much be done concurrently with anything:

TR_m2_MG_Polodie1

The demand for resist-paralysis potions is rising (recall that Akamora is the dridrea capital of Morrowind), so Polodie Floine wants to grow some plants in the Guild chapter whose ingredients can then be used for making potions. Specifically, Horn Lilies and Timsa-Come-By.

In order to cultivate a sufficient amount of these flowers, Polodie will request a fair number of each of the ingredients those plants give (Horn Lily Bulbs, Ingred_horn_lily_bulb_01 and Timsa-Come-By flowers, Ingred_timsa-come-by_01) and possibly tips on how to grow them from the botanist at the Almalexia greenhouse (i3-78-Ind). Obviously the greenhouse hasn't been implemented yet, but please keep that option in mind, so that we can add this to the quest at a later stage. Polodie explicitly warns the player against picking flowers in towns. Polodie directs the player to "Sailen, Darys Farming Supplies" for the ingredients he needs. I'm not sure if Dilvene Darys should have all the ingredients needed to complete this quest, but it's a nice place to start. Maybe she can direct the player somewhere else where there's bound to be enough remaining ingredients to complete the quest. We'll leave that up to the claimant.

Once this quest is completed, these ingredients and potions of resist paralysis should become available from Polodie on a respawning basis (try using a hidden container that's enabled upon completion, or whose ownership is set to Polodie, if adding a negative amount of these ingredients and potions to Polodie directly doesn't work). Reflect this in dialog and give the player a modest reward.

TR_m2_MG_Polodie2
After the plants have been planted (give it a day and a cellchange for them to appear in the planter in the main hall, or maybe longer) Polodie will direct the player to Varona, who's already made a few potions for the local guards. Mention that Varona offers training. The player is to deliver these to TR_m2_Flaalsa Irano for payment, which is then split between the player and the guild. Again, not too much money. Somehow people seem to think giving 500+ gold for a trivial quest like this is good, but that's simply too much. Make it match the price of a typical set of Standard potions. That's to say, in the 30-50 price range per potion, or something like that.

General note, mainland will be edited to remove the existing plants from the planter and, when necessary, limit the amount of resist paralysis potions and ingredients Polodie already carries. edit: Mainland has been edited! Get the new version from [url=http://tamriel-rebuilt.org/old_forum/viewtopic.php?t=23677]this thread![/url]

Flaalsa Irano has a quest that has the player exterminate a nest of Dridrea. Have her offer this quest right after the player delivers the potions (if the quest hasn't been done yet) and if the player accepts right then, give one of the potions back to them.
If the player has already accepted the dridrea quest before and not finished it, then he gets one of the potions.

[Not]

I'd like to give this a go if that's alright.

[Not]

I'd like to give this a go if that's alright.

Granted

[Aeven]

Omg abuse of power

[Andres Indoril]

Omg abuse of power

You have failed, Aeven. Even I had the willpower to resist this joke.

[Not]

Omg abuse of power

I had asked Why before hand if this was alright and he said it was fine :/

[arvisrend]

The resist-paralysis potions are TR_p_paralysis_resist_b/c/e/q/s in the [url=http://tamriel-rebuilt.org/esp/browser.php]new Data file[/url]. I'd consider 10-15 quality potions a reasonable amount for the quest, as the Mages Guild is supplying the whole guard.

[Not]

Had to revoke; having computer/moving issues atm, and it's better if someone else takes this one for now

[arvisrend]

This thing is a bit harder than I expected it to be because q2-35 is editing Ranosa, while I think this quest also needs to edit Ranosa. I'd love to have q2-35 finished before starting to work on this one, but this hinges on it getting finished quickly enough...

Why, Not, do you think is it ok if I let Ranosa give the first of these quests due to it being so urgent? It'd still be Polodie who briefs the player on all the details, and who then gives quest #2. I recall you had some thoughts about splitting these up among different questgivers, whence I'm asking.

(And yeah, this is a claim-as-soon-as-q2-35-is-finished.)

[Why]

Sounds okay to me

[Not]

This thing is a bit harder than I expected it to be because q2-35 is editing Ranosa, while I think this quest also needs to edit Ranosa. I'd love to have q2-35 finished before starting to work on this one, but this hinges on it getting finished quickly enough...

Why, Not, do you think is it ok if I let Ranosa give the first of these quests due to it being so urgent? It'd still be Polodie who briefs the player on all the details, and who then gives quest #2. I recall you had some thoughts about splitting these up among different questgivers, whence I'm asking.

(And yeah, this is a claim-as-soon-as-q2-35-is-finished.)

Sounds good to me. Worse case scenario we can always change some things if needed. I'm all for it.

[Why]

Maybe not let Ranosa "give" the player the quest, but instead refer the player to Polodie if the player doesn't have rank X yet? Like how Ranis Athrys sends you to Ajira.

[arvisrend]

Just a quick rundown of what I'll try to do tomorrow:

I'm going to work these quests into rot's q2-35 file since there is just too much interdependence going on between my quests and his. rot has agreed to that, so this shouldn't be a problem. I'll be careful with his scripts, so whoever reviews my quests won't have to look for possible repercussions on his ones which I've (mostly) reviewed.

The questline starts when you join the guild. You get the first quest from Ranosa, who gives you only a very vague idea of what you should do, and tells you to talk to Polodie. (If you are high-rank, she apologizes for such menial tasks, but says that much is at stake due to the guards' orders for anti-paralysis potions.) You get the job from Polodie and return to Polodie.

Polodie tells you that he's going to have a followup task for you shortly, but for now (while the herbs are growing) you can get another job (= TR_m2_MG_Ranosa1 of q2-35) from Ranosa.

After a couple of days, he gives you the second job (unless you are a vampire). He actually forcegreets you as you pass by, so you cannot decline; the job is to deliver the potions to the guards and it is urgent. "Urgent" means that the time you need to do this job acts as a multiplier on the rewards of the subsequent quests (so yes, I'll have to edit some of rot's stuff there). Moreover, there is a possibility to rip off Flaalsa Irano if your Mercantile+Speechcraft are high enough, and get a better price, but Ranosa will be pissed and warn you to not try that again (and the multiplier decreases). If you then steal the amulet in rot's first quest, she's going to be really pissed (yeah, lame implementation of choices & consequences, but better than nothing).

Now here is an annoying problem: The first three MG quests are all about communication. What if the player is a vampire? I'm tempted to just fast-forward to the "Interview with a vampire" quest in this case, since it just makes no sense to send a vampire to haggle with a Temple priest. But the dialogue of the "Interview with a vampire" quest is written in a way that assumes the player knows about the "enchanted amulet". I will try to add a makeshift "wait a couple days until Francine is doing the amulet quest because you can't" quest before the Interview, only for vampires of course. I'm somewhat unsure about what this will entail if the player gets rid of his vampirism and wants to return to normal duties, though; should he get the first two quests again? That would be rather nontrivial to implement...

Sorry if the above was unclear; it's 4am and all I want is to sleep...

Do you see any issues with my plans?

[arvisrend]

Oh and yeah, claiming.

[Why]

Direct to interview is good - vampirism has a way of complicating communication with non-MG folk. Not sure about the forcegreet, I don't think it's that necessary and it might appear odd since it's only really used to initiate combat usually, but feel free to try and see how it goes, I'll trust your judgement here.

[arvisrend]

Working from rot's file... Quest stages for first quest (working title "Mages Guild: Striking roots") made, as well as 3 scripts. Also some very basic inting (more planters and plants). What remains (for the first quest) is mostly dialogue (not exactly the easiest part).

EDIT: Note to self: Replace some of the plants by their TR varieties, and add more grass/bc_grass/bc_fern into the planters.

[Haplo]

I'd downsize furn_planter_02 and move it away from the corner, it appears to be bleeding. The player might also have trouble maneuvering around the Furn_Planter_MH_01, specifically between it and the chair or it and the bookshelf.

[Haplo]

Status update please

[arvisrend]

Nothing new so far :( but there'll be news in the next days! Sorry for letting this slip.

[arvisrend]

Journal and a couple responses written. Will work on it more seriously tomorrow.

I'm changing to 20 horn lilies and 20 timsa-come-by to have this harder to do by the guild members themselves. (These ingreds are worth 1 gold each, so this isn't going to be expensive.)

[Haplo]

Work more seriously! This is a fun-free zone.

[arvisrend]

Quest #1 should be working now (TR_q2-30-Imp_arvisrend_7.esp, as usual not on top of the list for whatever reason). I've cut rot's suggestion to have the guy in Bisandryon suggest bombarding the timsa-comes-by with magic for better growth; writing a quest that's mainly dialogue has been more wearying than I had expected (though there's not that much dialogue altogether, and it's not exactly worthy of an Oscar...).

Any comments welcome, particularly on the dialogue and on the interioring (placement of plants in the Akamora MG and in Bisandryon).

Will (hopefully?) work on #2 (and the "duties" topic) tomorrow.

[arvisrend]

Here is a version which should be feature-complete except of the karma system (which I'll implement once the rest is tested well). This file contains both q2-30 and q2-35, and q2-30 (my claim) takes roughly 64KB of it. The file should be run alongside TR_Mainland.esp.

The first quest (TR_m2_MG_Polodie1) is started by joining the MG in Akamora (coc "Akamora, Guild of Mages"). It's fairly straightforward technically (you are free to ignore all the directions given and get those flowers whereever you want). I'm hoping Nemon and/or Tyrion will add more horn lilies to the Nedothril coast, further simplifying this quest. One little easter egg: It doesn't really take 3 weeks for the plants to spring. They spring after 13 days, then grow a bit each day (you need to leave and re-enter the MG cell to see this happening) and reach full size when 18 days are passed; then you can finish the quest by talking to Polodie.

The second quest (TR_m2_MG_Polodie2) offers various outcomes depending on:
- whether you take too long to deliver (I think the threshold is at 3 or 4 days);
- whether you sell for 700, 900 or 1000;
- if you sell for 1000, whether your Speechcraft and Mercantile are good enough for her to fall to that scam (and if you took to long to deliver, this won't work anyway).

The second quest intermeshes with the "Hunting Daedra" quest, so do talk to Flaalsa about "dridrea" before or after the delivery (but only if you deliver on time and charge 700 gold) to get one of the potions back as a reward for your interest.

Some of the MG dialogue depends on your rank in the Guild: the pushing-around becomes a bit subtler if your rank is high enough. I haven't been very consequent at that.

Here are all quest stages for quick reference:


---------------

tr_m2_mg_polodie1 Stage 0

NAME: Response: Mages Guild: Striking roots
QSTN: Quest_Name

tr_m2_mg_polodie1 Stage 20

NAME: Response:
The Akamora chapter of the Guild of Mages has been contracted by the guard to produce resist-paralysis potions, but is lacking the necessary resources. Ranosa Orrels, the guild steward, wants me to help out. I am to ask Polodie, the alchemist of the guild, for concrete instructions.

tr_m2_mg_polodie1 Stage 30

NAME: Response:
I need to get hold of 20 horn lily bulbs and 20 timsa-come-by flowers and deliver them to Polodie Floine. He suggested a visit to Darys' farming shop in Sailen.

tr_m2_mg_polodie1 Stage 100

NAME: Response:
I have given Polodie the bulbs and flowers he requested. In about two weeks I should be able to see if the seeds are coming up. In the meantime, I should let Ranosa Orrels know, and check out the rewards waiting for me at once.

tr_m2_mg_polodie1 Stage 120

NAME: Response:
Three weeks have passed since I delivered the seeds to Polodie. It might be high time to check back at the Guild.

tr_m2_mg_polodie1 Stage 140

NAME: Response:
Polodie has thanked me for my assistance; the Guild of Mages is now able to produce potions of paralysis resistance.
QSTF: Quest_Finished


---------------

tr_m2_mg_polodie2 Stage 0

NAME: Response: Mages Guild: Harvest time at Akamora
QSTN: Quest_Name

tr_m2_mg_polodie2 Stage 10

NAME: Response:
Now that the Guild is at least partly self-sustaining in its alchemy, I am to deliver 16 quality potions of paralysis resistance to Flaalsa Irano atop the guard tower at the northern end of Akamora. As this is a late delivery, I should be fast and not take any detours. Polodie has authorized me to sell the potions at a price of 700 septims, which is below the negotiated 900 and reckons in the delay. I should report back to Ranosa Orrels when I am finished.

tr_m2_mg_polodie2 Stage 50

NAME: Response:
Flaalsa Irano was visibly elate to see the shipment of potions finally arrive, and suggested further trade with the Guild.

tr_m2_mg_polodie2 Stage 55

NAME: Response:
Flaalsa Irano was visibly elate to see the shipment of potions finally arrive, although not as fast as she had wished. Nevertheless she suggested further trade with the Guild.

tr_m2_mg_polodie2 Stage 60

NAME: Response:
I sold the potions to Flaalsa Irano for the price originally agreed upon. While keeping to her side of the agreement, she reproached the Guild for languishing at theirs.

tr_m2_mg_polodie2 Stage 65

NAME: Response:
Flaalsa Irano accepted the deal, but did not hide her disappointment about the delay. She expressed hope that the Guild will prove more reliable in the future.

tr_m2_mg_polodie2 Stage 70

NAME: Response:
I managed to rip off Flaalsa Irano and realize the potions at a price even higher than negotiated.

tr_m2_mg_polodie2 Stage 75

NAME: Response:
Flaalsa Irano was upset at my attempted swindle and refused to deal with me.

tr_m2_mg_polodie2 Stage 100

NAME: Response:
Ranosa Orrels has lauded me for getting the potions to the guard tower in time.
QSTF: Quest_Finished

tr_m2_mg_polodie2 Stage 120

NAME: Response:
Ranosa Orrels has thanked me for dealing with the issue, even if not in an ideal way.
QSTF: Quest_Finished

tr_m2_mg_polodie2 Stage 140

NAME: Response:
Ranosa Orrels does not believe that my way to handle the potion deal was very helpful to the guild.
QSTF: Quest_Finished

tr_m2_mg_polodie2 Stage 160

NAME: Response:
Ranosa Orrels reproached me for letting the deal fall through and warned me that the Guild has been "shamed enough".
QSTF: Quest_Finished


---------------

tr_m2_mg_ranosa1 Stage 0

NAME: Response: Mages Guild: A Rare Enchantment
QSTN: Quest_Name

tr_m2_mg_ranosa1 Stage 10

NAME: Response:
Ranosa Orrels, the guild steward in Akamora, wants me to purchase an enchanted amulet from the Temple.

tr_m2_mg_ranosa1 Stage 20

NAME: Response: I have obtained the amulet... at quite a bargain.

tr_m2_mg_ranosa1 Stage 100

NAME: Response: I have delivered the enchanted amulet to Ranosa Orrels.
QSTF: Quest_Finished


---------------

tr_m2_mg_ranosa2 Stage 0

NAME: Response: Mages Guild: Interview with a Vampire
QSTN: Quest_Name

tr_m2_mg_ranosa2 Stage 10

NAME: Response:
Ranosa wants me to interrogate a vampire. I am to speak to a stray group of these creatures staying in Mugan Crypt, and ask them the questions on vampirism she wrote down for me. She expects me not to fight nor destroy them so that they may be studied in the future, though the vampires will no doubt have very different provisions in mind...

tr_m2_mg_ranosa2 Stage 11

NAME: Response:
Ranosa wants me to interrogate a vampire. I am to speak to a stray group staying in Mugan Crypt, and ask them the questions on vampirism she wrote down for me. She expects me not to fight nor destroy them so that they may be studied in the future. The vampires might see things differently, especially if they belong to a rival clan.

tr_m2_mg_ranosa2 Stage 20

NAME: Response:
I received two enchanted scrolls from Francine Aldard which might prove useful. However, she hinted that pacifying an old vampire would require a more powerful spell.

tr_m2_mg_ranosa2 Stage 21

NAME: Response:
I received an enchanted scroll from Francine Aldard. However, she hinted that pacifying an old vampire would require a spell more powerful than these.

tr_m2_mg_ranosa2 Stage 50

NAME: Response: I have obtained the answers to most of Ranosa's questions.

tr_m2_mg_ranosa2 Stage 51

NAME: Response:
I have obtained the vampire's answers to all of Ranosa's questions.

tr_m2_mg_ranosa2 Stage 52

NAME: Response:
The vampire elder in Mugan Crypt is dead, and Ranosa's questions remain largely unanswered.

tr_m2_mg_ranosa2 Stage 100

NAME: Response:
Ranosa was pleased to learn the vampire's answers. She told me to come back and see her in a few days.
QSTF: Quest_Finished

tr_m2_mg_ranosa2 Stage 101

NAME: Response:
Although she was disappointed by the way I handled the vampires, Ranosa was still pleased to learn the answers. She told me to come back and see her in a few days.
QSTF: Quest_Finished

tr_m2_mg_ranosa2 Stage 102

NAME: Response:
Ranosa Orrels took umbrage with my killing the vampire, and dismissed me.
QSTF: Quest_Finished

tr_m2_mg_ranosa2 Stage 110

NAME: Response:
It's been some time since I delivered the vampire's answers to Ranosa Orrels. A visit might be in order.
QSTR: Quest_Restart

tr_m2_mg_ranosa2 Stage 111

NAME: Response:
It's been some time since I delivered the vampire's answers to Ranosa Orrels. A visit to the Mages Guild in Akamora might be in order.
QSTR: Quest_Restart

tr_m2_mg_ranosa2 Stage 120

NAME: Response:
Ranosa rewarded me with an improved amulet, a result of her experiments on protective enchantments. She warned me not to use it in sunlight, as its imitation of vampirism, although temporary, confers more properties than intended.
QSTF: Quest_Finished

tr_m2_mg_ranosa2 Stage 121

NAME: Response:
Ranosa was pleased to learn the vampire's answers. She rewarded me with an amulet granting resistance against fire.
QSTF: Quest_Finished

tr_m2_mg_ranosa2 Stage 122

NAME: Response:
Although she was disappointed by the way I handled the vampires, Ranosa was still pleased to learn the answers. She rewarded me with an amulet granting resistance against fire.
QSTF: Quest_Finished

[arvisrend]

Fixed a dozen of bugs found by rot. Thanks, rot!

[rot]

- Ranosa's "Thank you, %PCRank! I hope these"... greeting (gives the rewards for the first quest) can be missed through disease, and then never gets obtained due to other quest greetings

- Polodie's quest greeting (after the flowers have sprouted) should also be Greeting 1
(otherwise gets skipped by vampire/disease and leads to inconsistent dialogue on topic "horn-...")

- *after* doing the delivery but before reporting to Ranosa, Polodie's dialogue:
(on horn-lily...) "That was invaluable. But getting these potions to Flaalsa Irano is more important now"
(on paralysis resist...) "We're supposed to have them finished already..."
- Polodie still says "We're supposed to have them finished already..." on paralysis even after reporting to Ranosa

- Ranosa still gives you a gem-feeder scroll when reporting to her after failing the ripoff


edit, on the psychic questgiver thing: since a karma system is being added... in the case of a *successful* rip-off, the consequences could be applied later? (why would the PC themselves tell Ranosa about it)

[arvisrend]

Thanks again. All fixed in the new version! (I hope, at least. Haven't played with a diseased or naked char.)

[arvisrend]

File updated in accordance to Why's suggestions. Now one can start, and finish the Ranosa1 and Ranosa2 quests immediately after giving the bulbs-and-flowers to Polodie on the Polodie1 quest. But as soon as the potions are ready, one has to do Polodie2 before one can continue with the other quests. This allows finishing quests in various orders.

This is REALLY untested now. Please playtest the hell out of it!

Known issue: If you finish Ranosa1, Ranosa2, Polodie1 and Polodie2 in this order, Ranosa tells you that she has more duties for you, but when you ask her for "duties", she concedes that she has none. This is too troublesome to fix and shouldn't break anything.

[arvisrend]

Minor update, fixing a ShowMap and finetuning the way Polodie's inventory refills with resist-paralysis potions after the quests are finished. Don't bother updating if you already have started with the _4 version.

[arvisrend]

Yet another minor update, fixing a few bugs in q2-30 and q2-35.

[arvisrend]

Now with greetings linking to "duties" between the quests.

[rot]

- Ranosa's greeting 5 "Greetings, %PCName. I've got worthier duties for you, at last."
is unobtainable: condition TR_m2_MG_Ranosa1 >= 140 cannot be met (no entries above 100)


- Polodie's entry on 'horn lily bulbs and timsa-come-by' (I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you to get them soon.)
trumps the one below it (exact same conditions)


- TR_m3_Dilvene_Darys entry on same (Horn lilies and timsa-come-by flowers? Hmm. It's a long time since I've last had them ...)
checks for local ControlQ == 0 all fixed in v10

[arvisrend]

Another fix. Thanks rot for the review and Sload and Haplo for help with the dialogue!

[arvisrend]

Just uploaded the final version of this. After rot reviewed my part and I reviewed rot's, this claim is merge-ready.

[arvisrend]

Approved by myself, in a rare display of abuse of power.