[Misc Quest] - the Last Days of Glenbridge

[Xae]

Originally posted by black marshes modder
to complecated and what happened to them you didn't tell us.

The people were burned alive, of course.

What are you referring to and why is it too complicated?

Originally posted by Ibsen's Ghost
I like it but I'd tweak a few things. Glenbridge must have suffered from a number of problems in the past, not the least of which being the floods and when the player finds Glenbridge they might well find burnt wood under the water resulting from the traveller's actions. Other residents of nearby towns might claim that floods were the cause of Glenbridge's demise but the PC will find out a little different.

The floods would serve as the final stroke, if we're to use this Hetric story. The floods destroyed the town and Hetric killed the people.

In my interpretation, Hetric and the traveller have sort of been merged into the same person. He may actually appear in a tavern in another settlement but I think other people should not recognise this person and some might not even see him at all. If he were indeed a master of the occult (with some branch of Bhuru or reinterpretation of the Hist), he would not only have this power but may prey upon the citizens of this town who are often blighted by disease, raids and natural disasters, offering them deliverance. Being needy of hope, they will respond to him with joy. The man introduces his warped religion...and yet his true intent would be to destroy the town and to feed off their spirits like a lich.

The Traveler could be a part of Hetric's farce. For some reason, the souls of the dead could be different if the people died in a state of sheer utter panic and despair rather than with thoughts of eternal bliss. And should someone happen to survive, they'd tell everyone that Hetric died.

So he picks their hopes up only to drain them...and the ghostly apparition that appears above the town is of him in his devilish incarnation leeching off the ancestors in the graveyard and the spirit energy left behind by both the townspeople and their ancestors...this is one interpretation of the same pattern of events....resulting in Hetric/the traveller re-appearing amongst the burned skeletons in his true form, as a lich that speaks in the same voice as the man the PC originally meets in the tavern (a voiceover could be used, if necessary).

...the whole nightmarish scenario that reveals the events leading up to Glenbridge's destruction would remain intact but perhaps Anaster Marrowmir, a man acquainted with Bhuru magic might rescue the player, revealing how the PC themselves is falling under Hetric's spell.

It seems as though Black Marsh could benefit from having a custodian-like character that is involved in many quests, yielding insight into the history of the land and all of the wicked things that have happened here. It might well be that the player ends up in the Hist dimension after the church incident, having been trapped in Hetric's spell by following the story so closely and actually existing inside the phantasmal buildings along with the spirits of the townsfolk.

[Deeza]

You know, the one thing that worries me about all this is that if our side-quests are going to be this dark and epic, won't it steal some of the main quest's thunder? Unless we were to come up with something evern better than that....

[Xae]

bmm: If there's something that's impossible to script, we'll change it. If the entire quest relies on said event, we'll change the entire quest. When IS or another scripting-savvy person comes about they'll either clear it or say there'll have to be changes. The latter is not the end of the world, and the possibility that something may not work is not reason enough to simply chuck the entire idea.

Many things are "really hard" to script, just like other things are "really hard" to write, model, texture, landscape etc. If you think it's too hard to be done at all, then please give a full explanation of what particular scripting limitations prevent it from being done.

All quests will have to be examined for scripting limitations, without exception. If you're experienced enough to do this, then go right ahead, that'd be great. But if all you have to say is that the quest is "too complicated" or "really hard" to script, then that doesn't really help at all.

If you want to give criticism, please do it properly, otherwise all you're sharing is a negative opinion.

Deeza: The way I see it, if the side-quests are just as good as the main quest, then that's a good thing. There are several ways in which we can give sharper relief to the main quest, should we want to, and naturally the best ideas and the most work should go into it.

The main quest, for example, can include many more locations (some of which could be special areas marked on the map), introduce characters with lengthy involvement and bring the player in touch with some of the factions that exist in BM.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Yes, I think this is a complex one in terms of being 'just a village quest' but Glenbridge's fate is something that tells us a lot of the life of BM natives and settlers. Therefore, I think it's worth doing. Our MQ has plenty of strings to its bow already. I think that, when we finalise plans for the MQ, we can bring together all other ideas and all our knowledge on BM that we've put together and I'm very confident indeed that it will not pale by comparison to anything else.

Of course, Xae has proven his skills as a writer so it would be great to consult him when we're finalising plans....if you fancy that, Xae? I can more than cope with the big ideas but Xae shows a little individual quest ingenuity that I may be lacking.