Main Quest Updates & Discussion

[Brima]

TESV: Silgrad Tower
Main Questline: From the Ashes
Quest 1: Unrest in Red Plaza

Working Summary

When the player first passes through the main gate of Silgrad Tower, the majority of the city's Dunmer are gathered in the Plaza (in the Downtown district, somewhere near the gates of the Dunmer Enclave). The members of the Argonian Watch, who try intermittently to convince them to go back in, are clearly unhappy. If the player talks to the Argonian WATCH CAPTAIN, he’ll give them a terse overview of the situation and tell them to move along. If the player speaks with the Dunmer, they will explain that they’ve heard VELOS HADRETH, the 200+-year-old Dunmer “prophet” of Silgrad Tower, is ill, dead or dying, and they want proof from the Argonians that he’s still alive. The player can’t rest until the situation is resolved (same setup as in the official Skyrim campaign during events like the Stormcloak siege of Whiterun).

However, if the player presses them more closely, they learn that the unhappiness over Hadreth is only one of many problems between the Dunmer and the Argonians, who took control of the city two centuries ago. Longstanding hostility between the two peoples, worsening conditions in the glass mines, abuses by the legion, and recent disappearances from the Enclave have all combined to cause major unrest. The Dunmer have come out into the Plaza, kept in line by the New Temple priest TEDAVE OTHRENDU, chiefly because the better part of the Argonian legion isn’t in the city at the moment. Even though they are clearly afraid of what the GENERAL may do when he returns, they are also determined not to leave until they have word about Hadreth.

If the player talks to Watch Officer SEEWOL, she’ll greet them with curiosity, and suggest that they go to the Governer’s Manor (Saxheel District) and speak to the Governer’s Shadow, STILLS-THE-WATER, who is responsible for keeping the peace in Silgrad Tower in his absence.

When the player enters the Saxheel District and gains entrance to the Governer’s Manor (or whatever other building is being used as the Argonian administrative center), they find STILLS-THE-WATER. She greets them without visible surprise, and thanks them for offering to help resolve the situation in the plaza. She has told the rest of the legion to stand down in favor of the City Watch, since she anticipates escalation into violence should the legion get involved. To this end, she’s also had the gates to Riverside and Eastside, the foreign quarter, closed. The Watch are not allowing foreigners into the Enclave, which is now mostly empty. (This allows for the possibility of a demo release with only the the Downtown and Saxheel districts.)

She will ask them to go up to Silgrad Tower, and speak with the prophet, Velos Hadreth, then go to the Plaza and report this to the crowd.

The player speaks with the Argonian guard stationed inside the Tower, and follows him up many flights of stairs to the tower’s height, where Velos Hadreth lives.

The player speaks with Velos Hadreth, ascertains that he’s alive, and returns to the Plaza. (Books of his prophecies are located both in the Governer’s Office and in Hadreth’s chambers. Hadreth refuses to leave under any circumstances, since he believes the city is doomed if he does. He made a prophecy regarding this early on in the Fourth Era, and has lived in seclusion ever since, with the cooperation of the Saxheel governers.) There, either after speaking to the Captain, or right away, they can climb onto a raised platform and speak to the crowd. What they decide to say is up to them.

The crowd disperses back into the Enclave voluntarily or is dispersed, and the quest is complete. The player can then report back to Stills-the-Water for a reward, or leave to seek out lodgings in the city on their own. The Captain will offer them Seewol as a guide, but they can tell her to leave, in which case she will return to the Watch Office in Eastside.

The first quest ends here.

Dialogue currently being drafted, will post here for review when it's complete.

[sandor]

Nice work! :thumbsup: