Reich Parkeep: Reclaiming the Ancient Gate

[Razorwing]

There's two leaders in the town which can both be said to be 'mayors', although only one - Baron Remo of Reich Parkeep - is recognized and supported by the Empire. The other is Archmaster Varkan Areya, who administrates Soluthis - the large Redoran settlement in which Reich Parkeep is built - as well as being leader of House Redoran in the region. This quest idea revolves around the latter person.

Through rumors and conversation, the player is made aware of Areya and where to find him (if he wants to). Shortly after the player enters the great hall where Areya holds court, a messenger enters the cell and runs past him at a brisk pace. When the player approaches Areya's throne the controls freeze and a conversation between the messenger and Areya is played.

[blockquote]"Muthsera, I come straight from the Ancient Gate. The Nords have ravaged it, plundered it, set it on fire! Everyone is DEAD! My brother... my father... everyone! I only survived because I was returning from an errand to Crossroads when it happened, and watched the attack from afar. There was nothing I could do, I... nothing... there were too many of them, I... All I could do was come straight here to alert you, muthsera. I am sorry... I have failed you. I have failed House Redoran."[/blockquote]

Areya pauses, and replies:

[blockquote]"I can't believe it... but I have to, but it's just... It is not your fault, kinsman... you were right to come here. Had you died, you would have died gloriously, but in vain... and with no witnesses the swits would surely have marched straight on here to Soluthis. You have done a service to House Redoran and should not feel shame."[/blockquote]

Then - Areya breaks into tears for awhile. Then the game controls are released, and Areya approaches the player and forcegreets him.

[blockquote]"I don't know why you came here, but you have to leave. I must consult with my generals and see if we can muster a response. The way things are going... *sigh* ...we should consider ourselves lucky if we can even hold on to Solutis."[/blockquote]

The player gets a choice of responses to Areya's statement.
1) Right. Good luck with that. /exits the conversation with no action taken.
2) This is an outrage! Can I aid House Redoran in any way? /continues to the meat of the quest.

If the player chooses the second option, Areya pauses for a moment to compose himself, then replies:

[blockquote]"They steal our mines, and we do nothing. They slay our Gods, and we stand idly by. They usurp Silgrad Tower, and we fall back. They plunder and desecrate the holy Gate, and we weep. They slaughter our women and children - and it ends HERE! You want to aid us? You really want to aid us?"[/blockquote]

New choices;
1) My services are at your disposal, muthsera. /continues to the meat of the quest.
2) On second thought, I need to think about this. /exits the conversation with no action taken.

If the player chooses the first option, Areya responds:

[blockquote]"Very well. I want them DEAD! I want them ALL - DEAD! Sneak up and put an arrow in the back of their heads, shoot fireballs at them, crush their skulls with a warhammer, I don't care - just make sure not a single Nord swit is left alive!"[/blockquote]

This exits the conversation and gives the player a journal entry, and then it's off to the Ancient Gate to restore House Redoran's glory. If he can - because it will be a pretty challenging quest. But it's also the kind of quest that won't go away, because the Nords will be content with occupying the Ancient Gate and House Redoran keep planning on how to take it back (Areya discussing with his generals) until the player pursues the quest. So if it's too hard for his player character when he first gets it, he can beef up experience elsewhere until he's ready.

And then it's all action, all the way, as he'll kill the Nord warriors in any manner he chooses.

I thought I would build the Ancient Gate inside a hidden valley, sortof like Bethesda did with Pale Pass, and actually make it as an interior that poses as an exterior and put high mountains all around it. This is so it can be started right now, without an exterior landmass being there, but even if there had been then I imagine closing it off in a separate cell would make it easier on FPS and let me add more fighters than if it had been placed right in the exterior world.

The Nords won't recognize the player as a threat from the start, and won't attack him pre-emptively. The player can talk to them if he likes, but if he tries to take their side they will just tell him they don't need any help. It's good to keep it simple, especially for me seeing as I'm just starting out on making quests.

The player will get a small reward for completing the quest, with Areya citing that their coffers are strained due to the recent conflict. Rather, the major reward of course is the stuff he can loot off of the Nord corpses, which would be worth a couple of thousand gold if he hauled it back and sold it all off.

Members of House Redoran will like the player better for completing the quest. The people in Reich Parkeep won't sway either way, not even the Nords that may live there, since they didn't stand anything to gain from some warlord in the old country conquering a settlement.

I have a couple of sketchy ideas for continuing the questline started by this quest.
- One is that the player is quested to persuade a minor House in the region to side with House Redoran. That minor House would have seceeded from House Hlaalu some time in the past, perhaps over money issues, and can be persuaded to join House Redoran if the player performs a major task for them. Once they've joined House Redoran, their (one) settlement provides manpower for Redoran to re-staff the Ancient Gate with soldiers and other personnel.
- Two is that the battle is taken to Skyrim, as the player is quested to eradicate a village just across the border. Doing that would send a clear message to the Nords to stay out of this particular region of Redoran territory, although it probably wouldn't mean they would cease their aggression towards Morrowind altogether - just in those parts.

Any comments or ideas on my suggestion?

[Ebonyknight]

I like both quests. First you have to get people to relive at the Ancient Gate. Then get some people to follow you and kill everyone in this village.

[Siegfried]

I think it would be better to make the gate an exterior, it just seems unnatural to have a bunch of interiors posing as exteriors. Sure you'd have to hold off on it, but do you have models for the gate yet?

[noremorse]

It sounds exciting to me. :goodjob: I would also use the same technique as Pale Pass.

I'm not sure about Areya's personality, but I think he should be more calm in the matter at hand. Maybe give him a little more time to think it over. Here's my idea:

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firebrick[/HR]
[...]
Then - Areya breaks into tears for awhile. Then the game controls are released, and Areya approaches the player and forcegreets him.

[blockquote]"I don't know why you came here, but you have to leave. I must consult with my generals and see if we can muster a response. The way things are going... *sigh* ...we should consider ourselves lucky if we can even hold on to Solutis."[/blockquote]

The player gets a choice of responses to Areya's statement.
1) Right. Good luck with that. /exits the conversation with no action taken.
2) This is an outrage! Can I aid House Redoran in any way? /continues to the meat of the quest.

If the player chooses the second option, Areya pauses for a moment to compose himself, then replies:

[blockquote]"Give me time to consult my generals. I will not allow any more of my kinsmen to fall at the hands of these barbarians! Go! In the town you will find adventurers, hunters, traders, and travelers that have passed through the Ancient Gate numerous times. Talk to them, and find out all you can about their recent visits. When I am finished with my business, I shall send a herald to call on you.[/blockquote]

Ends the conversation. The player is given 6-8 hours to search the town for different people to ask about the "Ancient Gate." Some will have vague knowledge about the Gate. Some may refer you to one or more people with more advanced knowledge about secret entrances(?) , structure of the building and it's fortification, etc. After the given time, the courier will arrive to invite you back to talk with Areya.

Player greets Areya, who answers:

[blockquote]"I hope you found some useful information. You will need anything to help you to infiltrate that fortress.[/blockquote]

No new choices. If the player asks about "Ancient Gate," Areya responds:

[blockquote]"They steal our mines, and the Empire does nothing. They slay our Gods, and we stand idly by. They usurp Silgrad Tower, and we fall back. They plunder and desecrate the holy Gate, and we weep. They slaughter our women and children - and it ends HERE! Do you really want to aid us?[/blockquote]

New choices;
1) My services are at your disposal, muthsera. /continues to the meat of the quest.
2) On second thought, I need to think about this. /exits the conversation with no action taken.

If the player chooses the first option, Areya responds:

[blockquote]"I want them DEAD! I want them ALL - DEAD! Sneak up and put an arrow in the back of their heads, shoot fireballs at them, crush their skulls with a warhammer, I don't care - just make sure not a single Nord swit is left alive!"[/blockquote]

This exits the conversation and gives the player a journal entry, and then it's off to the Ancient Gate to restore House Redoran's glory. Shortly after exiting the conversation, a Redoran warrior approaches and forcegreets the player, offering his and two other's services.

[...]

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firebrick[/HR]

Also, maybe the Crossroads' messenger will have a little more in-depth story to listen to if you ask him. He may also have more information on the Gate, as he lived there.

[Razorwing]

Originally posted by Siegfried
I think it would be better to make the gate an exterior, it just seems unnatural to have a bunch of interiors posing as exteriors.

Perhaps it might seem that way, but I'll make every effort to make it seem as natural and fluid as Pale Pass was. The only hint that the player isn't in the exterior world would be that the map marker on the world map didn't move. Besides, closing it off means the FPS won't be affected by stuff outside the Gate, so it can be made more interesting and action-packed.

Originally posted by Siegfried
Sure you'd have to hold off on it, but do you have models for the gate yet?

Between Prometheus and Spankybus... pretty much, yeah.

noremorse: Thanks for your feedback! I like your ideas and think we should do it that way. Question is, how would we handle it if the player went to the Gate anyway after the first meeting with Areya? Should the setup become activated, and the quest be completeable, right after that meeting and then the player can choose to stick around and interview or choose to go it alone? Though every hint would entice him to stay, talk to folks, and have a second meeting with Areya. But if he did choose to go it alone anyway he wouldn't find an empty Gate.

Good idea about the messenger

[raggidman]

Noremorse

Your alternative diction:

"I don't know why you came here, but you have to leave. I must consult with my generals and see if we can muster a response. The way things are going... *sigh* ...we should consider ourselves lucky if we can even hold on to Solutis."

is probably better written, but I am not sure if you have quite hit the note yet. Suggest you rewrite a few times...

The wording:

This is an outrage!

doesn't quite do it for me. Too awkward, and not really warlike. An outrage is what happens when you think someone has behaved badly, but we are talking about an invasion here...um everyone killed? Controlled agression is usually more effective. But far more impressive is straightforward and carefully thought council, simple language directly to the point.

Why would the player want to ask about the town to find where the Redoran Settlement at the Ancient Gate is? Surely Areya already knows that?

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Razorthingy
Another set of alternatives that builds on Noremorse's ideas

To actually recruit adventurers might be interesting...but if this is an invasion the Redorans would also want to send their own. These are not Hlaalu...? If the player is not Redoran they would want to send a Redoran Hero for the honour of the House. so maybe the solution might be that you offer as a compartative stranger to scout. The Nords might well have advance intelligence and know the locals - they might have spies in town also - so there might be cloak and dagger stuff. You have to eliminate the Nord spy/s in town? Which buildings could be useful for this?

What happens then could go various ways.

Scout and spy
Say you recruit various adventurers - including a stout group of Redorans - and march off to the gate, led by the hero? On arrival you then leave them hidden in a nearby valley, whatever and go forward to scout... then maybe a chat with Galrina might provide a taster of her new Nord magic system that you could buy or barter for with false information.

Since you have to have killed their spy to survive in town and his report is overdue, the Nord leader offers you a reward of their magic to provide them with information on events in the area.

1) You accept (and he gives you a taster) and you can return to your support group, to plan an assault or
2) You refuse and they may try to kill or capture you - scaary, eh? There are too many to face for long no matter your level, and after a survival test you are exited from the cell with a nice cutscene of Raaaging Noooords, but no magic! as the price you pay for loyalty!

Either way you return to your group and pass on the info, then you all go in. Given that you have a genuine hero with you, you can survive whatever your level - he/she will save your butt, if necessary reviving you at the point of death (another scaary cut scene if you like), and then, when the day is won a second wave of Nords come pouring out of the Gate!

Family, Blood Brother or Lover - whichever is cool.
Your group is caught unawares, killed or fled! and there is just you and your hero/heroine who is now wounded and calls out for aid in the face of the charging enemy:
1) You decide to save the hero's life and have a great friend - and a choice. Do you return to the fray immediately or carry your friend to safety?
(a) if you swear to stand by your friend and avenge your comrades' deaths your friend will give you his sword/armor to assist you and a massive potion that he says the Hero known as the Nerevarine gave him before disappearing - and you then realise that in his fury your friend has depleted the enemy's numbers cosiderably (so decide if you really need to use the potion), and many of them are running off after the fleeing adventurers, so you can now finish the battle by ploughing through the shocked enemy around you and pick off the rest one by one as they are scattered all over the place, with plenty of high level loot, including the enemy commander's rune inscribed equipment ... and when you return to your friend he swears blood brotherhood with you.

Once back with the Redoran Leader no hospitality is enough - you saved their hero... They love you, the ladies? love you, the men? love you, the shopkeepers love to give you good deals. You are accepted by 'almost' all, even if this is not the Main Quest! in far lands they gossip about your deeds! Any NPC who recognises you calls you '..player name.. Heart Brother' (or sister) - even the Nords love your great heart, as they revere bravery and loyalty - weird eh?

Even if you are not Redoran you might be able to do build a RedoranStronghold Quests - what can I say? You are family and all differences are forgiven. You have honorary title within their hierarchy.

If you are Redoran, then your rank is boosted, do the Stronghold Quests.

But many Nords also want to take your reputation - so though most will be friendly, some will challenge you wherever you go in Skyrim or Nordic Settlements.

(b) if you decide to save your friend and return later then they have a number of reinforcements, but with a high level character it is doable, with plenty of fine loot, and if you then return to your friend he will give you a different weapon or armour - maybe an heirloom, and (if you have no afiliation to another Great House) adopt you into his family. = now you are Redoran!

The Redoran Leader rewards you generously as he would any Redoran who has fought well and (if now Redoran) you are promoted in the Great House. The way is now open for you to do build a Redoran Stronghold quests. The story is told as rumours now and then. And people think well of you generally. There is no particular come back with the Nords - you are just not famous enough, but you did your duty - no hard feelings.

2) You run - whether you later return or not the hero is dead. no reward from him/her as the Nords who looted the body returned to their homes to drink and boast of their achievements! What next? The Nords see you as an enemy and if:
(a) You return to finish the job before you go elsewhere. All that are left are comparatively low-level grants with basic equipment - but loads of them! Have fun transporting low grade wholesale lots of armor. Ummm, the local Redorans may reward you in some way - a mercenary's pay if you have routed the remainder, but the loss of their hero is too great, and they will never really take to you. An injured soldier saw you abandon their hero. You are not liked by the Redoran. The Nords do not think much of you. You will have to work hard to reform your reputation with many people.

(b) You do not return. An injured soldier saw you abandon their hero. You are hated and despised. Even in lands far beyond the tale of your cowardice and the falll of the Great Redoran Hero has spread - this is added to rumours that people talk about!. You now have a new name. those who recognise you call you '..player name.. Faint Hearted'. No self-respecting Nord will like you, you are a failed enemy. Unless you can win great renown in another way? But you will never lose the nick name 'Faint Hearted'.

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Harsh possibilities I know, but this is war...

waddja think noremorse, Razorthingy?

Sorry, you replied while I was working on this...buut???? Am I in time? :O

gotta go for now, look forward to reactions

[Ebonyknight]

you said heroine thats a drug lol.

[Razorwing]

Originally posted by Ebonyknight
you said heroine thats a drug lol.

Heroine is both a drug and the feminine version of "hero".

[raggidman]

Ebonyknight
Now I always thought that the killer drug is spelled herion, and the more deadly lady is spelled heroine. The 'e' at the end of the word like 'a' often denotes a female gender or conjugation.

Raz and norem, I really love this bit:

"They steal our mines, and the Empire does nothing. They slay our Gods, and we stand idly by. They usurp Silgrad Tower, and we fall back. They plunder and desecrate the holy Gate, and we weep. They slaughter our women and children - and it ends HERE! Do you really want to aid us?

Suggest a capital H for: 'Holy Gate'

And hows about a pregnant pause after "- and it ends HERE!" ... as he looks up at something in a distance only he can see, and then fully composed, and 'deceptively mildly' "Do you really want to help us?" As if he is musing to himself - rhetoriacaly... before he goes on to suggest just how with some precision?


Why spies in town?
You suggest that he does not want more of his kinsmen to fall, but can he really stop them all? One suspects that he knows he cannot and so when he sends the player into town he is tasking the player to clean out the town of the spies he has to know are there and to determine the player's true worth he does not warn him of the possibility. Instead he tells the player to recruit cannon fodder, knowing that the Nord spies will want to discourage such activities.

Who might the Hero (or female Hero) be? Maybe there is a name out of the Lore - a companion of the ancient heroes of Red Mountain? Remembering that Dark Elves live a very long time/centuries? Maybe a warrior who stood at Barenziah's side when she was Empress? Someone like that, who was thought to be in retirement - you can't keep a good hero down eh? and of course, immensely likeable... volunteers?

In his anger you have Areya shout this:

"I want them DEAD! I want them ALL - DEAD! Sneak up and put an arrow in the back of their heads, shoot fireballs at them, crush their skulls with a warhammer, I don't care - just make sure not a single Nord swit is left alive!"

I must confess I really really hate that word swit. It may be a well known dunmer insult (though no one seems to know what it means) there is a kind of a singular nastiness to it but I associate swit with little girls and boys in smugglers caves screaming futilely their hatred at me just before I cut them down... I hope you manage to coax a sincere hatred from whoever gets to do the voiceover on that one!

Hope this is useful, rm

[KuKulzA]

wow, your ideas guys... very good.... I wish I had something to say....
only I do have a few tirival things to add maybe...

the small Minor House, I would say it could be a Velothi clan, the old stay Dunmer because they are mostly surviving on Vvardenfell, Dres lands, and Redoran lands where traditional names and people aren't assimilated like in Hlaalu or Indoril lands....

perhaps you get administration of the Ancient Gate... perhaps every month you get paid...

also as you approach the gate to kill Nords, you are confronted by a crying woman who begs you to turn back, but an arrow hits her in the back... you probably get angry and kill or get scared and run, that's the point

I also think that AFTER the massacre at Ancient Gate (and the preparation for the raiding of a Nord town), you if you are a Breton, Nord, or Imperial can choose to fight with the Nords.... but you are going to have to attack the ancient gate and fight lots of Redoran with as much zeal as the Nords...

perhaps the Reich Parkeep leader would say to drive the Nords out and control the Gate
the Soluthis guy would ask you to also massacre the Nord village and you get a Redoran stronghold (separate from Gate which you don't get)

Originally posted by Razorwing

Originally posted by Ebonyknight
you said heroine thats a drug lol.

Heroine is both a drug and the feminine version of "hero".

women can be drugs too