One of the features of Verbobonc 2.0 will be to flesh out many of Allyx's original plots. To that end, I'd like to seek community assistance for plot development in two areas of the Verbocono story arc: Frozen Assets: This is the quest wherein you are sent into the underdark by Wilfrick to ultimately find that traders are being eaten by the white dragon. Currently this is described for the player as follows: Quest log: The Lord Viscount of Verbobonc has asked you to investigate why merchants are being frozen in their tracks. Wilfrick's dialogue: "I will explain. The few merchant caravans that have arrived intact recently have reported violent hail storms northeast of here. But many other caravans have not reached their destinations. I suspect there is a rational reason why such weather is affecting the trade routes so badly at this time of the year, but the reason is unknown to me at this time." And you want me to investigate the trade routes and the cause of the adverse weather conditions? "Yes. There is a tunnel that runs northeast from the gnome living quarters down the street. With luck, the cause of the violent weather will reveal itself to you there in the direction of the trade routes. Be careful, however. Prince Zook has reported sightings of drow in the area." What we need here is more exposition on what's going on. What merchant caravans? Why were they there? What caravans are missing? What's been done about it and learned thus far? Etc., etc. For en example of what I'm looking for, see this post by arkhamresident detailing his write-up for the Welkwood Bog plot: http://www.co8.org/forum/showpost.php?p=69084&postcount=21 Under Attack From Underground: related to the above, but seemingly of little importance to the Viscounty, this is the matter of your investigation into the presence of drow under the gnome living quarters. Quest log: You have been told about drow attackers who threaten to invade Verbobonc. Prince Zook's dialogue: "I've seen better days. Drow have invaded the gnome living quarters. And what's worse, the Viscount won't send any of his guards to even investigate my claim, let alone actually tackle the problem." There are drow in Verbobonc? Why won't the Viscount send his guards? "I blame that Lerrik. He's always poisoning the Viscount's mind against me. He says gnomes have "inventive imaginations." I can't stand it. Lerrik twists Wilfrick's mind to suit his own purposes, but Wilfrick doesn't believe me when I tell him what Lerrik is doing." More exposition needed. What's the Viscount's problem? Who the hell is Lerrick? Why would the Viscount take any chances with drow? Ditto the arkhamresident post above for an example of what I'm looking for. You don't need to write this up in the form of a dialogue. Just basically write a summary/story explaining in greater detail what's going on with these matters. Details enrich the story, so be specific - names, places, times, motives, etc. Your submissions will be evaluated by me and I'll ultimately choose which one(s) to use. They'll also be subject to editing on my part, primarily for consistency in 'voice' and whatnot and to get them into the game in a working fashion. Also, please only submit something if you're serious about it - e.g., no "Hey wouldn't it be cool if Wilfrick was like secretly a vampire and wanted to become Prince Zook's undead lover? We should do that!" type entries. Have fun!
I guess I should have made it clearer when I wrote the 1.0 Verbomod that Lerrick is a member of the Scarlet Brotherhood - the Verbobonc head honcho of that group, they (IIRC) want to oust Wilfrick and take the city for themselves, or bend him to thier will (which is Lerrick's current job). The only expansion I had planned for Verbobonc was that Senshock could be charmed into telling sensitive information about Iuz' mother - can't remember what it was now but it's in the module, and that Senshock would be killed by Iuz (or just spawn next to him and wail on him and any unsuspecting PC's in the area - though I expect his shop is too small for such an encounter and a brawl inthe street maybe a little problematic with the guards wandering about). According to the research I did when I started writing Verbomod, Wilfrick has 2 sons, upon Wilfrick's death the viscounty will pass to on of them, the elder son has no interest in the viscounty, but the younger is expected to take on the role of Viscount should Wilfrick die. With this in mind, we could perhaps add an NPC for Wilfrick's younger son, add some Scalett Brotherhood quests to gain control of the son either magically (charm or other mind control spell perhaps) or diplomatically, assuming the PC's also kill Wilfrick.
WARNING: WALL-O-TEXT AHEAD Okay, here goes. I'll see about filling it out a bit, specific dialogue and such, when I've got more time. *Flavor detail* *Non-critical options* Under Attack From Underground After getting the quest, Zook suggests you talk to Lerrik and Wilfrick to find out why Zook's requests for guards have been ignored. Starting a conversation with Lerrik causes him to ask you to quietly eliminate the Drow and offers a substantial reward if you keep Wilfrick in the dark. There is also a conversation available with Wilfrick in which he explains that the city guards are really busy due to the same increase in crime and violence the whole area has experienced (as a result of the buildup of the TOEE; not sure if he should be aware of that or not; could have an option to tell him about it and to expect things to settle back down a little if you ended that threat or a sinister "it won't be a problem for you much longer" if you sided with the temple and plan to depose him), and Lerrik has assured him that he has already had someone check into the situation and found nothing. Because of this, Lerrik has convinced Wilfrick that sending guards to look into a wild claim would be viewed as favoritism towards the gnomes and might stir up unrest in the other citizens. There could also be mention that Zook has requested guards to deal with "red-robed villains/hoodlums/etc" several times in the past, only to have the guards find no evidence of anything going on. Finally, Wilfrick confesses that even though he's not sure about sending the city guard, he's concerned about any report of Drow in the city, and he'd like your group to investigate it for him, preferably without telling Lerrik or anyone else. Talking with Zook could have an additional mention of the "red-robed people" problems in the past and Zook's suspicions that they are part of a plot by Lerrik to discredit Zook with Wilfrick. After killing the Drow, you have to choose one of three paths: Side with the SB, help Wilfrick root out the SB, or just slaughter everyone (not exactly a quest path, but meh). You can report to Lerrik, telling him that they've been disposed of, which completes Under Attack From Underground. If you talked to Wilfrick before killing the Drow, you can also mention his request to Lerrik, who muses that just manipulating Wilfrick isn't doing the job. At this point, Lerrik says that you, being new to the area and relatively unknown in town, could help hasten the SB's plans and offers you power, money, whatever if you will make Wilfrick disappear. If you refuse, he should note that, knowing his plans, you can't be allowed to live, and he teleports away (I'm casting him as the sort of conniving but cowardly spellcaster) while the SB attacks you (which shunts you into the GG Path if you survive). If you accept, the first SB path quest starts. Alternatively, you can report back to Wilfrick that there were, in fact, Drow in the caves, the gnomes were telling the truth, and Lerrik was lying to the Viscount. Wilfrick wonders why Lerrik would lie to him about something as important as Drow inside the city and asks you to look into the matter. Accepting starts the first quest in the GG Path. SB Path SB Quest 1 - "Foreseeable Tragedy" or "Removing An Obstacle" Lerrick explains that killing Wilfrick in the city without getting caught would be almost impossible, but Wilfrick is going to be leaving to attend a conference or council of some sort (Lerrik doesn't know what it's about; it turns out to be a discussion on the SB, their progress, and what to do about it). Lerrik does happen to know when and where you can set up an ambush a short way outside of town, and describes the number and type of guards Wilfrick will be taking. You are then given the option to go there immediately or request some time to prepare, first. If you told Lerrik about Wilfrick's request, Lerrik will also tell you to report to Wilfrick that there were no Drow and Zook was making things up again. Obviously, talking to Wilfrick offers this option. You can also rat out Lerrik at this point, but doing so will cause Wilfrick to call more guards and reveal that he knows everything that happened in your discussion with Lerrik (due to a spy, clairvoyance spell, or something along those lines). Cue the battle to take you into custody or kill you. If you survive, you still fail the quest since the deaths of Wilfrick and his guards were obviously an assassination instead of the "tragic accident" Lerrik wanted, and both he and your party are suspected of involvement. Lerrik rants at you for screwing up, but then goes on to SB Quest 2. Once you tell Lerrik you're ready, he adds to make sure to grab something from Wilfrick's corpse as proof of his death, and your group is transported to a battlefield (I seem to recall a "road in the countryside" random battle map that would be perfect for this) with Wilfrick and his guards. When you confront him, far more guards appear around you (an expanded entourage including extra city guard units like mages, clerics, and rangers for a major battle; the combined group is much larger and more powerful than Lerrik told you). Wilfrick comments that you probably weren't expecting such a large group since you got your information from Lerrik, that he is aware of Lerrik's plans and your part in them (again, courtesy of a spy, spell, etc), and the irony that the SB would attack Wilfrick without even realizing that his destination is a conference on how to deal with them. Brouhaha. Loot Wilfrick's symbol of state (pendant, signet ring, etc) as proof for Lerrik, go to map, and return to Verbobonc. Talk to Lerrik and give him the symbol to complete the quest and be inducted as members of the SB (a reputation?) directly under Lerrik. The assassiny woman (it was a woman, right?) who shares Lerrik's room at the inn could jump in here complaining about your group getting such a high rank as newcomers, possibly leading to a sidequest to prove your worth or something. Dunno, I'll have to think on that one. Maybe she should just complain and leave it at that. Anyway, the quest is completed and Wilfrick's younger son takes over as Viscount (scripted scene in the official chamber-looking building with the son being sworn in or something?), and Lerrik offers you the second quest. SB Quest 2A - "Taking The Reins, Covertly" Now that the son is in power, Lerrik has gotten hasty and wants to get this coup rolling as fast as possible. He requests that you investigate the new Viscount (does this kid have a name?) for exploitable weaknesses and report them. Accept to start SB Quest 2A, or tell him that you have a better idea, which starts SB Quest 2B instead. (Once either is started, the next time you enter the inn's second floor starts the SB Sidequest.) If you accept, you now have two options: First, you can enter Wilfrick's house (now his son's) and search for anything of interest. Nothing on the first floor, so you go upstairs... and (assuming you rescued her; maybe have her be freed by random do-gooders if you didn't so she can still be here) find Wilfrick's daughter (who's brother has graciously allowed her to remain) with one of the city guards, both in a distinct state of undress. If possible, you should get two rounds (one surprise round, one normal) to kill them both before they can alert the rest of the guard. If it's decided that she stays captive in the TOEE, only the guard is there, but you still have to kill him. Either way, the guard has a letter from the new Viscount to his brother that reveals adoration of the older sibling and where said sibling may be found. Second, you can talk to people around town, at least one of which (one of the guards?) will mention how the Viscount looks up to his older brother. Talk to the Viscount and make a Gather Information check to get him to regale you with the story of how his brother saved his life once and how the new Viscount thinks the world of him. Whichever the case, take this information back to Lerrik. Back to the main quest, your overseer (the lady or Lerrik, depending on the sidequest) directs you to capture the older son and points you to his house. You are also reminded to use non-lethal damage so as not to accidentally kill him (you need him alive; you can kill him anyway, which adds another challenge to the quest later). You go to his house, enter, kill the guy's friends that have come to discuss an upcoming trek/quest/adventure (they can greet you and talk about how the elder son has no interest in politics and is a fairly well-known adventurer, but all dialogue leads to fighting them), then go upstairs to confront the target himself. Knock him out or kill him and leave (his body should disappear when you leave). Report to your overseer to be commended or bawled out (if you killed him), along with a comment explaining that their more stealthy agents retrieved the body in either case. If you didn't kill him, you are given a magical recording (kinda assuming this is a possibility in this setting) of him in chains somewhere. Either way, you are to go talk to the new Viscount and "convince" him to follow orders for his brother's sake. If you don't have the recording, you must make a Bluff check to convince him that his brother is still alive. If he agrees, report to your overseer to complete the quest. If you fail the check, report back to the overseer to fail the quest, be bawled out (that can happen a lot, can't it?), and start SB Quest 2B. SB Quest 2B - "Taking The Reins, Overtly" Since discrete methods are off the table, you are to make the new Viscount cooperate via more direct means. Your overseer gives you a circlet ("Circlet of Domination" or some such; "Slave Crown" would be a fun easter egg / shout-out to FFVI) enchanted to forcibly compel the wearer to obey commands given by whomever holds some item (whatever it is) and tells you to get it on the Viscount by whatever means, just don't leave any more evidence pointing to the SB. At this point, you have two choices, again: Force or magic. If you have someone capable of casting Suggestion (assuming it's in the game by then), Dominate Person, or Dominate Monster (or any other appropriate spell that isn't coming to mind right now), you can attempt casting one of those on the Viscount. Suggestion should have a pretty big bonus to his save since he can guess the purpose of the circlet you will be ordering him to don, and the Dominates might even get the "against nature" +2 to saving throw since he is being ordered to forgo his duty and carry out a nearly self-destructive act. If whatever you attempt fails, he calls for a group of guards. When his health gets low (below half?), he should initiate conversation in which he surrenders and accepts the circlet. The guards have to be killed regardless. If you choose to use force, go talk to the Viscount and warn him that "accidents" of the sort that befell his father might occur again unless he cooperates. He'll get angry and demand you leave. When you exit the building, you overhear a guard coming off duty saying he's going home to see his wife (produces a mark on your map?). Follow him or otherwise find his house, enter, kill him and his wife, and return to the Viscount. Talking to him lets you make an Intimidate check to cow him into donning the circlet. If you fail, he kicks you out again, whereupon you overhear that a group of guards are getting together to discuss the murder of their friend (your recent victim). They never learn, huh? Go to their house, slaughter them all, return to the Viscount for the last time. Another Intimidate check (easier this time?), but if you fail, he calls for his guards, which plays out just as if you had failed with a spell above. However you got the circlet on the viscount, return to your overseer (if this is the first time returning since finishing SB Quest 1, the sidequest doesn't start and the lady comments on Lerrik's removal in your absence), and report your success to complete the quest (perhaps with better rewards for more discrete solutions; spell > first Intimidate > second Intimidate > beating the Viscount into submission). You are also recommended to the SB's higher-ups as very capable and dependable by your overseer (perhaps another reputation). SB Sidequest - "Plots Within Plots" { When you arrive in the inn, Lerrik isn't there. Instead, the assassin girl wants to talk to you, and about Lerrik, no less. She reveals that she has been in contact with the SB's higher-ups, and they aren't happy about the risks Lerrik is taking (maybe mention that they've learned the reason for Wilfrick's trip, and the rest of those attending that conference now suspect the SB of having Wilfrick killed, leading to increased pressure and probing against the Brotherhood; hence, Lerrik's decision is causing the SB trouble elsewhere). She's been granted permission to terminate the liability, and she wants you to prove your dedication to the SB by doing so for her. Start quest. You can refuse, which causes her and the local contingent of SB lads to attack you (kill them, leave, return, and reveal the plot to Lerrik, completing the quest). Accept and she tells you to come back later when only Lerrik and his honor guard will be there (she will take the loyalists out for "training"). Leave, return, and either kill or talk to Lerrik. You can tell him of the plot, after which he vows to deal with the "traitors" and smooth things over with the higher-ups, and the quest completes. If you kill him, leave and return again, and talk to the lady to complete the quest. If you turned her in to Lerrik, she and a few of the loyalists (who didn't get captured by Lerrik) could show up à la the traders from Hommlet and attack you. Whichever one you sided with will continue the quests with you, the lady claiming that, since Lerrik's already made a mess of things and you've found the information to move forward, you might as well press your advantage before the new Viscount gets his house in order and starts seriously hunting his father's killers. } Further SB quests None at the moment. For lack of a better name, GG (Good Guys) Path Added below.
I like this so far, aeonise. Just bear in mind that the broader all these plot nodes go, the more involved (to a potentially phenomenal level) the writing and scripting would have to be. TotWC could become like Duke Nukem Forever - "to be released ... sometime in the future, possibly." (ha-ha) Please continue though. Even if we didn'y use everything, the foundation sounds quite good.
I'm suffering from a blasted lack of time (the all-in-one-lump sort that I need for any coherent writing, anyway), but I'll get the Good path put in text in the next few days, with any luck. As for the size, I was just throwing in everything that came to mind, so the base can certainly be used without a lot of the details I added, and that would probably be best for the first incarnation simply to make sure it all works and flows well. A lot of the options and dualities of response could be pared away at modders' discretion. They add to the "openness" of the game, but I understand that they typically involve more than doubling the workload for the encompassed parts of the addition. I'll try to go back and somehow indicate the details and parts that could be tossed without impacting the overall flow much. Other issues: Scratch what I said about a Hextor path, since I missed him being Lawful. Still not entirely sure what might be done with that. Can someone more knowledgeable of the faction interactions in Greyhawk fill me in on how the Hextor cult is likely to interact with the SB, Verbobonc guard and government, common people, Drow, and any other major players thereabouts? Just general statements of how they view each other and would react to direct interaction would be great. I've kinda got something rolling around for an alternative evil path, but it really depends on how the Hextor Cult and the Drow might deal with each other and the rest of the town. I've also got an idea for a quest or short series of quests dealing with the white dragon issue more in-depth. It would be completely separate from the other plot lines in Verbobonc and possibly tied back to the TOEE. How feasible is it that at least one or two of the elemental temples have "laboratories" hidden outside the temple complex (away from the prying eyes of the other temples) for special projects? Also, is there a specific reason given for the decline of the Air Temple beyond the typical deaths and turncoats of Temple intrigue (read: can I make one up as part of a quest)?
Just FYI, with the re-emergence of the possibility that Ranth's mod will be finished and integrated into TotWC, he may be fiddling with the Hextorites in Verbobonc to that end.
I'll keep that in mind. I probably won't bother giving them much thought until I get the good path and dragon thing hashed out, anyway. Is there a thread somewhere detailing Ranth's plans for the cult? That mod had something to do with a castle, I thought I'd heard, but for searches for any combination of ranth, castle, and hextor only seem to turn up passing references to the mod-in-limbo.
No, he hasn't posted anything publically I don't believe. If he sees this thread he might share info here.
Okay, I'm back with more. First, I've talked with Ranth, and he's planning on making use of the Hextorites, so they're all his. Second, I'm still needing someone to weigh in on the possibility of any of the temple factions having secret, external laboratories. I've got ideas with which to expand the Frozen Assets quest, but the one I think would be best is predicated on such laboratories existing. I'd really rather not flesh it out only to learn later that its basis can't exist. =/ GG Path GG Quest 1 - "Enemy Within The Gates" or "Enemies In Our Midst" Wilfrick says that Lerrik has been seen regularly entering the inn by evenings even though he has a residence in the city, and you ought to start by finding what he's doing there. Go to the inn and talk to Lerrik, who figures out that you're working for Wilfrick, rants at you a bit ("You worthless dogs have chosen the wrong master to serve!" etc.), and teleports away while the SB members attack you. (This is where you come in if you reported to Lerrik but refused to work for him.) Search the Assassin's corpse for some indication that this group was part of the SB, and take it back to Wilfrick. He congratulates you on your discovery and remarks that the timing was not a moment too soon; he's going to a conference discussing the infiltration of SB groups throughout the area, and Lerrik's involvement will be vital information. Wilfrick notes that Lerrik and the SB, having been exposed, will have to move very quickly and decisively or waste years of effort, and the most likely move for them to make is trying to kill Wilfrick on his way to or from the conference to put his more easily manipulated son in the Viscount's chair. Having proven your ability and trustworthiness, Wilfrick requests your group reinforce his guards for the trip. Once you're ready, you're taken to the conference (no attack is made on the way), where you get to watch as politics prevents anything from getting done. On the way back, Wilfrick's group is confronted by Lerrik and more SB members. Your party appears off to one side, having been traveling a bit apart from Wilfrick's group to avoid spooking any ambushers. Lerrik, coward that he is, teleports away again, but not before summoning a powerful creature to deal with you. You are left to assist Wilfrick against his enemies. Succeed, and you return to Verbobonc, where Wilfrick decides to act on his own. He speculates that Lerrik, who has been spotted in town (probably gathering necessities and informing any remaining SB members in town), will try to escape soon and asks for your help in setting a trap in the most likely escape route, through the tunnels connected to the gnomes' levels. Perhaps have an added option, if your speaker has high Intelligence or makes a Gather Information check, to ask why Lerrik won't simply teleport away, to which Wilfrick responds that whenever wanted criminals with possible access to extradimensional transportation are known to be in the city, a number of guard mages skilled in Divination monitor for any extradimensional activity and would be able to track Lerrik almost instantly if he attempted to leave that way. Lerrik was made privy to this procedure, so it's more likely that he will attempt to escape by conventional means. {(I'm still not entirely sure of the specific limitations of scripting, so just let me know if any of the following is impossible or prohibitively difficult to use and I'll come up with an alternative version.) When you head into the gnome quarters, a guard mage greets you and explains how the trap will work. The mage will be maintaining See Invisibility to watch for Lerrik, who is most likely traveling... well, invisibly. Maybe add (just for the humor and flavor of it) a comment from him complaining about how it's ridiculous that none of the guard's clerics had Invisibility Purge prepared. The mage tells your party to get into position. Some amount of time later (15 seconds, maybe?), the mage shouts a warning and casts a spell at the obviously-invisible enemies, receiving a Disintegrate for his trouble (he fails his save ), which dispels the Mass Invisibility on the enemies to reveal Lerrik with not only more of his SB pals, but a number of summoned creatures, too.} Time for a big battle. When enough of his cohorts die or he takes damage, Lerrik says he'll take his chances with the guards tracking him and casts his last prepared Teleport... and flubs it [credit to Allyx for the idea]. This time, Lerrik is finally getting his just desserts. Return to Wilfrick to report the death of the traitor, complete GG Quest 1, and receive your rewards. At this point, I've come up with two different quests lines for GGQ2. The first one was abandoned due to my thinking that it would end up requiring too much special scripting for the unnecessarily convoluted yet totally linear plot. If someone wants it revamped and finished, I will, but for now, the discarded plot is the indented section below. Regardless, the younger son is still "Lefils" (see below) to me unless/until someone finds or creates a proper name for him. oke: The next quest is available the next time you enter Verbobonc from the overland map. A guard greets you and relays a request from the Viscount to meet him in his quarters as soon as possible. When you do, he explains that his younger son (whom I am hereby dubbing "Lefils" in lieu of a real name; literally "the son") has been kidnapped and a note with demands delivered. The demands include attending a secret meeting outside the city, bringing only the ones who killed Lerrik (your group), and allowing no one else to learn that anything is amiss. Wilfrick again requests your assistance, and accepting begins GG Quest 2. GG Quest 2 - "" Wilfrick is unsure exactly to handle the situation and asks for suggestions. You get several options, depending on your lead's skills. A high Bluff skill (subbing for Disguise) can allow you to convince Wilfrick (presumably by perfectly imitating his mannerisms and speech) to allow that PC to disguise him/herself as Wilfrick for the meeting (how hard would it be to give that PC Wilfrick's appearance for a short while?). High Diplomacy allows you to convince Wilfrick that his going will not likely affect Lefils' fate (they'll both just be killed) and to leave the matter in your hands. The default option is to simply go along with the demands. Whatever you choose, Wilfrick also mentions that his elder son, Sir Fenward Leftwanded (canon name), has demanded to accompany you in retrieving his brother. You are then transported to the meeting site along with Fenward (and possibly Wilfrick). Cue the ambush everyone should have seen coming a mile off. More SB members, though a smaller number of stronger ones, and their summoned help. Your job is to either screen for Wilfrick's retreat (if he's there) or simply kill them; it amounts to the same thing either way. Fenward storms off, and Wilfrick, after musing that it was naive of him to assume Lerrik's group was the only SB cell in Verbobonc, asks you to try to learn whatever you can about them while he decides what to do next. Going to Lefils' home turns up a distraught guard, who turns out to be the one keeping watch the night of Lefils' kidnapping. Questioning him reveals that no one unusual came or went that night, only a couple of nobles trying to curry favor with the next-in-line Viscount. You find it odd that any of the nobles should care overmuch about the son when Wilfrick is still in fine health with plenty of years left in his position and press the guard for the names and locations of those visitors, which he quickly gives you. You reach the closer of the two homes just in time to catch the owner leaving and demand to know what he was doing with Lefils that night. The noble gives you the same line the guard did, deterring you not in the least. High Bluff, Diplomacy, or Intimidate causes the noble to let slip something indicating his involvement with the SB before he retreats into his abode, barring the door. You return to report again to Wilfrick, who has another message from the kidnappers, this time accompanied by a piece of his son (a finger?) to show they mean business. The letter demands Wilfrick enact a number of policies detrimental to the viscounty The next quest is available the next time you enter Verbobonc from the overland map. A seemingly random person gives you a sealed scroll and says that it is urgent Wilfrick receives it. When you hand it to Wilfrick, the Trap The Soul spell on it triggers (visual effects from Disintegrate?), and the guards, understandably, accuse you of attacking the Viscount. Being good and wanting to avoid shedding innocent blood, you acquiesce and are taken to prison (could recycle Burne's prison), sans possessions. Thus begins GG Quest 2. GG Quest 2 - "A Deadly Infection" While you wait, a gnome breaks through the wall and requests you follow him, taking you to Zook, who believes you innocent and the only ones able to catch and deal with the real perpetrators. He suspects one of the noble families of working with the SB against Wilfrick and thinks they have made this move since their allies have been removed from the picture. He has managed to get a tunnel dug into the basement of this family's manor and suggests you head there to find some proof, hopefully the gem holding Wilfrick. Zook also mentions strange auras detected in another nearby basement that is warded, preventing his people from investigating further without making themselves known. Saying you'll check it out starts the GG Sidequest. Last, Zook offers to let you use one of the gnomes' chambers to rest, and points out a chest holding all of your belongings (commandeered from the prison shortly before you were). When you're ready, you enter the manor's basement through the winecellar. You now have a few options: You can have any of your members with good Hide and Move Silently skills try to sneak around without getting caught, you can use invisibility to move more or all of your group around, or you can simply silence anyone you meet. Work your way out of the winecellar to the servants' quarters. There, you can talk with a couple of servants currently off duty. You can use Diplomacy Gather Information, either getting you knowledge of a particular room in the manor, which no servants are allowed to enter, even for cleaning. The default option gets you no information beyond the cruelty of the nobles. (Perhaps also have a Lawful/Stupid-style Intimidate option where the servants direct you to a particularly well-trapped room instead.) Make your way on up to the ground floor, avoiding or killing the guards as you do so. Once there, you need to get to the suspicious room or (if you couldn't get anything out of the servants) simply search room to room. Several of the rooms have people in them, with whom you must deal (offer a Bluff check to convince them that you are there for an job and got lost or something and an Intimidate check to cow them into sitting tight instead of calling in guards) or traps (the conventional sort and those that summon elementals and such to deal with intruders). When you come across the correct room (one of the trapped ones), you must make a successful check (Spot or Search?) to notice the hidden door leading to a secret room. Naturally, that room contains documents proving both the family's dealings with the SB and their plot to remove the Viscount and frame your group. It also contains various magic items (rewards/gifts/bribes from the SB for assistance) and the gem holding the Viscount. Oh, and taking the gem out of that room (back into the off-limits room) summons a number of enemies to deal with, as well as a few guards. Enjoy. Here the quest branches: You can simply take the evidence and gem and retreat via the same method you arrived, delivering the evidence to the city guards and freeing Wilfrick, or you can confront the family's patriarch and try to take him into custody. Whichever way you plan to do, you'll be fighting your way out of the manor. Seems someone had the bright idea to put an Alarm spell on the hidden room, and now the guards are all aware that something is up. They've triggered the manor's defenses as well, meaning more summoned enemies and even a few golems (if golems aren't implemented, since I can't remember, maybe just use powered up Juggernauts?). If you intend to take the patriarch, you must fight your way to the manor's reception hall, where you are promptly ambushed by the last line of defense, crossbow-wielding guards supporting more golems/superJuggernauts and the family's Wizard retainer(s). Killing them all lets you talk to the old man and take him into custody. If you just head for the exit (the same one by which you entered since the front door is now sealed), you still have to fight the same guards, summons, and constructs, but you head into the basement instead of the reception hall. Oddly, the basement seems deserted, but if you pass by the servants' room, you find their dead bodies. Just before you reach the winecellar, something jumps you (dunno what; something or somethings big, mean, and monstrous:yes. Apparently this family thinks nothing of keeping monsters as guard-dogs and even less of servants. Fight for your life, whee. Once you've captured the patriarch (assume he opens the front door or calls off the monsters) or killed the monsters, cue the fade-to-black, and you are in Wilfrick's chambers with the man himself (recently restored) absolving your party of all suspicion, remanding most of the noble family to prison awaiting trial, and rewarding you for saving his life (again). GG Quest 2 ends. Wilfrick also notes that it is going to take quite a bit of time and effort to root out all of the traitors and moles caused by the SB's involvement. GG Sidequest - "The Last Hurrah" or "A Parting Gift" Only available while you have access to the special gnome tunnels during GG Quest 2 (while you can head back into the tunnels from the manor, entering the hidden room means that returning to the tunnels invokes the monster fight, ending the quest), you can opt to check out the building that is unnerving the gnomes. You smash in the final wall left untouched by the gnomes and enter a room dominated by a number of SB members (the last of Lerrik's group) performing a group incantation (more or less based on the Unearthed Arcana rules), apparently to summon a horde of outsiders and other monsters to destroy Verbobonc. The SB cell has been dealt a grievous blow and the remnants have turned to their "nuclear option". Several enemies have already been called, and they promptly attack you. Every turn, a number of monsters are summoned, which will quickly overwhelm you. To stop this, you must kill enough of the SB members that they cannot continue the incantation (maybe have a Spellcraft check to see if any of your PCs recognize the incantation for what it is and explain what has to be done; the "Slay all evil!" Stupid/Good parties will probably be in for a TPK or two until the player figures out on his own to kill the summoners). In addition, the SB members are all being effectively shielded by the powerful energies of the incantation, which disrupt any magic being employed against them (via a moderate to high SR). After killing enough of the summoners to terminate the incantation, the remaining SB members are killed by the backlash, leaving you to deal whatever has been summoned in the meantime. At the end of GG Quest 2, Wilfrick will either commend and reward you for stopping the SB cell's final plot (completing GG Sidequest), or ask if you know anything about a house near the nobles' manor. In the latter case (if you passed on the sidequest), the SB members failed in their incantation, resulting in the destruction of their lair and the house above it from the backlash. This fails the GG Sidequest if you started it but didn't investigate. Further GG quests None at the moment. I'll finish marking non-critical details later.
As far as Laboratories go, the Master of the Bazaar is affiliated with one of the temples his shop is his secret base away from the temple, it is also where he stores all his spellbooks and other stuff he needs to make magical items etc... There is no real need to create a working spell to prevent Lerrick teleporting, you could simply add the script to fire the teleportation sparklies, maybe add a fizzle sparklie to it too for flair, since (I assume) there would be dialogue between the parties involved, this is all easilly scriptable in the dialogue and script files for the talking parties, certainly much easier than creating a working spell. Changing a characters portrait to match Wilfrick's in game probably isn't possible, changing the clothing/armour/weaponry however is easy peasy just spawn the items in that characters inventory as for his facial appearance and hair, that couldalso be done with a "mask" like the ones the "drow" wear perhaps.
I'm thinking more along the lines of a temple-run weapons laboratory (developing spells, weapons, bioweapons, anything to use to boost their standing with the Greater Temple) than personal labs. Would that sort of thing be possible? The whole Dimensional Lock thing was just flavor that would have to have some impact on the PCs (they shouldn't be able to use Dimension Door or Blink in the area of effect). Given that Dimensional Lock would have almost no purpose other than flavor and inconveniencing the player, it's probably best just to ditch that idea. Your particles suggestion could be used to comically cover him not leaving again, though.:cool2: Well, I'm not finishing up that particular plot for now, but it's good to know that disguising is easy.
Naturally, all the commentary save a single sentence is about the plot I discarded. oke: In other news, I'm gonna see about filling out and getting into text my idea for the Frozen Assets quest (line), so if anyone plans on kiboshing the weapons labs concept (Gaear?), better make it quick. On the other hand, I probably won't get hardly any writing time until at least Thursday, so "quick" means something more like "within five days". >.>
Well, since you bring up the topic of kiboshing, I don't have any intentions of putting a stop to anything you're doing here, but ... While I deeply appreciate the effort you're putting in, I gotta say that the greater likelihood is that little of it will ever actually make the mod, for one simple reason (okay, two simple reasons): First, implementing large quest chains and their attendant plots and their attendent scripting and and their attendant dialogues is an extremely arduous process. Making it into some cohesive whole with existing material is even more so. Look at KotB, for example. Development started in 2005. It may be finished this year. So that's a four year development cycle. I know TotWC won't be an entirely new game like KotB, but with added material it will be damn close. And modding is slow work. I spent the last day trying to get one simple aspect of one simple part of one simple quest to work properly (and it still doesn't). Making progress like that, the TotWC we see envisioned in this thread could well take four years to complete, just like KotB. Second, this may not be as apparent to relative newcomers as the longtimers here, but what we're really trying to do with ToEE now (and have been for some time) is finish the game, not build a new one. TotWC primarily contains game elements that have already existed in other forms - Hickory, Verbobonc, Moathouse. They're just being tweaked, fine-tuned, and rebalanced. So ... what does all this mean? If I were you Cortillaen, I would narrow my focus. Concentrate on, let's say, a single plot line in and around Verbobonc (like I said in post 1 - explain the drow; explain the dragon) that we could realistically develop and implement. And focus less on new quests and more on making something out of the existing ones. Keep it kind of, well, small. I hope this doesn't take the wind out of your sails, but I figure it's better to say it now then after you write all this stuff up and then have to hear me say "It's crazy but we can't use all that now, heh! Sorry!"
No, no, telling someone their efforts are probably pointless could never be discouraging. :bored: I guess I'm just getting mixed signals here. My understanding is that HB, Welkwood, and Verbo are all modder additions, so "finishing" them, to me, means giving them suitable storylines. Alternatively, simply finishing "the game", meaning the original TOEE, would seem to be better served ditching all of the post-game content and just having some congratualations/adoration/cower-in-fear scenes in Hommlet and Nulb. If the point is to keep all of the added content thus far and just tie off or explain only the current quest nubs, "Write a Story for Verbobonc" may not be the best title for the thread. =/ You don't really need someone to suggest "Learn Lerrik's an SB agent, kill him, the end", if that's more what you're looking for. The way I took your initial request was for quest lines and details to help make Verbo fit into the game when compared to the other two towns, so I was just trying to put together fairly short (it's hard to tell without building and playing them, but I don't imagine any of my suggestions being more than of shot to moderate length compared to the main vanilla quests) quest lines that would take advantage of the expanded Verbobonc (again, I don't really get how expanding it furthers "finishing"... =/ ). I was also trying to diversify the options a little beyond "go here, kill this" and offer a path that makes sense for evil parties (who would really have no reason to help Wilfrick bolster the forces of law and good in Verbo). I understand that a lot of the options and details would simply be too much to expect done by the projected release next year, and you may notice that I've structured the 2+1 quests for both paths specifically so that the first quest in each can be compartmentalized and implemented alone. In fact, if you did so, or just went with even simpler tie-offs for Verbo, I'd be happy to work on building the full versions for a release later on. However, if the Co8 modding forum is basically planning to go cold after 6.0 is out, I'd prefer not to get too invested in a project. On the subject of the dragons, I was considering just two quests, the first being destroying the dragons (what's already there), and another being finding the cause and dealing with it. The latter would be considerably simpler than the previous quests I've laid out as there would be minimal dialogue during the quest, no real optional paths, and the backstory and explanation of the events would be given through journal entries. If you want an even simpler version of that, just have someone explain that the dragons moved closer to Verbo because of the Temple somehow. As for the Drow, I'd suggested an almost purely dialogue (in addition to their current incarnation) way to tie them into Ranth's mod, but I'm not sure if he intends to use that or not.
