Quest idea - the Common Tongue

[Deeza]

The Common Tongue was an undercover journalist in TES3, who the Nerevarine had to silence because he was talking trash about King Helseth. There was going to be a series of quests about the guy in Vvardenfell, but since that mod's history now, I'm moving it to the mainland.

The story goes:

After being bribed by the Nerevarine, the Common Tongue felt guilty about sacrificing his integrity and before long he was back to his old tricks, fiercely criticising Helseth's many murders and moves to consolidate his power. Pursued by Helseth's goons, he moved to Vvardenfell, but they found him there too. So he decided to hide right where Helseth would least expect it - a city controlled by his own House, Silgrad Tower!

There will be several articles by the Common Tongue included in ST. House Hlaalu want him dead, and the Redoran are anxious to offer him protection in exchange for his knowledge about their rivals' dirty laundry. So plenty of opportunities for intrigue - if you can find the guy first, and judging from the precedent he set in TES3, he'll be very hard to track down.

Initial comments?

[jucklesjenk]

Where / when do you find him in TES3? I've got the game, and it's been a while since I've played it, and now that you've brought it up, it'd be good to go and check it out in-game.


In terms of the quest idea - sounds good to me, it'll certainly get the player thinking. I'm guessing that to make it more interesting and difficult, there'll be no quest markers, so the player has to actually work out for himself where to find him.

That sounds fun to me! :yes:

[Deeza]

I agree with your suggestion about the quest markers.

As for TES3, the dude hangs out in a basement underneath the Forge in Mournhold (you know, the one that makes custom armour). There's a trapdoor you have to unlock. I only found it because my character habitually burgles every building he enters. I later discovered that you have to hunt him down as part of a quest for the King (there is an option to kill him, but I'm assuming for the purposes of this quest that the Nerevarine chose to buy him off instead).

[jucklesjenk]

I'll have a look for him next time I'm playing. I haven't really been to Mournhold yet because I'm right in the middle of the MQ, at the bit where you get support from the ashlander tribes, so I haven't bothered going, except for once, when I did that play in the bazaar.

[Deeza]

So, any thoughts about where in Silgrad City this guy could be hiding out? I'm not familiar with the layout, so perhaps one of the Core could help?

[sandor]

We could use an existing claim (in the Riverside, claims start with #03).

I'll assign an interior after this quest has been claimed.

[Deeza]

OK. I'm wondering if there could be two quests (for Redoran and Hlaalu respectively). The Redoran want you to smuggle him out of the city, the Hlaalu want him brought to justice, dead or alive.

[sandor]

Originally posted by Deeza
OK. I'm wondering if there could be two quests (for Redoran and Hlaalu respectively). The Redoran want you to smuggle him out of the city, the Hlaalu want him brought to justice, dead or alive.

Sounds good.

[Deeza]

Is there already a quest line sorted out for the Great Houses, or does that still need to be done?

[jucklesjenk]

I believe ideas and one or two quests have already been sorted out for Redoran, but I don't know about any others.