[WIP] ShadowScale Quest Line

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Just so you know, I'm trying to find time to rewrite that little questline but you at least have something to go with here for now. My advice is to use this as a development thread where you can raise and mull over ideas before posting them up and re-editing where necessary. :check:

[Ibsen's Ghost]

I was just working through some ideas on the Shadowscale quest line and I felt that Xaeaix's idea didn't quite work for me as the introduction to the questline. I would most definitely still like to use it as I think the overall questline should focus on the 'purity' of the Shadowscale Order. However, I started writing and came up with this idea for the beginning:

Cold Blood Runs Warm (Synopsis)

The problem with this questline is that the PC might not be a ‘typical Shadowscale’ in that, if they join at all, they would not be regarded as one of them because they may not be playing as an Argonian themselves. Also, by tradition, even Argonian Shadowscales are bred to be Shadowscales from birth. So how could the PC gain admission to the Shadowscale Order? Perhaps only through a rule of ‘dead man’s boots’ and by subsequently undergoing a bonding ritual whereby the PC gains the blessing of the departed Shadowscale. Could they gain admission to the Shadowscales in this way even if they are not Argonian? Would they also not have to undergo some sort of trial that tests their loyalty as part of this ritual?

At first, the PC will be automatically mocked and rejected if they encounter a Shadowscale. If the PC expresses their loyalty, they might be advised to “beg the Shaman to be a part of their honourable Order.” Through speaking to a Shaman they might receive news of some portent that puts them in the right position at the right time. Thereby, if the PC follows this cryptic portent, they will witness the killing of a Shadowscale by a member of the Dark Brotherhood.

Whereas the killing of a fellow Dark Brotherhood member is punishable by the sending of the ‘Wrath of Sithis’ (a wraith), the Shadowscales would execute the guilty party. So would the Shadowscales not, at times, frown upon the levity with which the Brotherhood deal with such matters? They would surely regard the Brotherhood as weak and imperfect, especially when the one that is killed is a Shadowscale. Therefore, some Shadowscales might attempt to impose their own justice and bypass the wrath of Sithis in such a matter. By their own laws (executing one who kills a brother) they would be justified but the Shadowscale leaders would probably be unconvinced and keen to retain their friendship and loyalties with their Cyrodiil counterparts. So, pointing out the pact they share with the Brotherhood, the Shadowscales may issue the order not to kill a Brotherhood member after the fact and thereby punish the vigilante to demonstrate their goodwill towards the Dark Brotherhood. But will they really deal with this assassin as they say? Could they not, instead be martyred by being exiled to the Hist Dimension where, in time, they could be reborn? And who would be behind this deception? The Shadowscales themselves or merely some sympathisers of the vengeful Shadowscale? They might be inspired by the legend that still exists of Ruined-Tail, a rogue Shadowscale who fought against the Order’s extremist laws.

Quest Order

1. This quest begins with the PC meeting a Shadowscale and attempting to gain entry to the Order. They are sent to see a Shaman who issues cryptic instructions as to how they might gain entry.
   
2. Following the portents, the PC witnesses the killing of a member of the Shadowscales by a member of the Dark Brotherhood. The PC might have to follow the trail of the killer in order to discover their identity without being discovered. This would be to find them in one of 2-3 caves/forts. If they are discovered, they must return to the Shaman for another portent and they must try again in the next place the assassin can be found. These locations (and portents) would rotate until the PC achieves their objective. The dungeons themselves would be standard dungeons with no other quests attached.
   
3. The PC must report back to the Shadowscales using the words of the Shaman to gain an audience. Once there, there is an argument in which one Shadowscale considers the acts of this Dark Brother and points out, “This is not his land. Here he must submit to our laws, unprotected by his feeble grovelling at the feet of Sithis (referring to the law of the ‘wrath of Sithis’).” At the end of this, the PC is sent away with a message that the Shadowscales may choose to contact him again.
   
4. The PC receives a message to meet with the Shadowscales where they are informed that one Shadowscale has chosen to kill the Dark Brother. If the PC wishes the Shadowscales to accept him, they must seek out this Shadowscale who is hiding in a known stronghold of the Royal Court because he knows that they do not tolerate Shadowscales in such a place. The PC must sneak into this place to find them. However, all they will find is a plain-clothed sympathiser of the vigilante who is prepared to strike a deal with the PC.
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   This is as far as I've got with this so far. I can easily add dialogue to the quest and, once verified and completed, we can put this into the official quest threads. In the meantime, however, how do you think this long opening quest should be tied up...?

[Xae]

The PC just runs into a Shadowscale and asks if he can join? The whole thing with the Shadowscales is that you can't join. It's a birth right and not really a fellowship per se. The Shadowscales isn't a group that meets frequently and does things together but rather a bond between them; a special upbringing. Even if the player is an Argonian born under the Shadow sign he still doesn't get to join, because there's really nothing to join. No club membership, just a tradition.

It's possible that a few of them would get together and solve something important, like killing one of them that's misbehaving, but actually making it a group with a hideout would effectively remove all the mystery and make it a whole lot less interesting. The Shadowscales lore is exciting simply because no one really knows anything about them and a quest line dedicated to them shouldn't change that.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

I don't think this actually tells us that much but I take your point about the birthright issue. You're absolutely right. Maybe it could work if the PC simply represents the Dark Brotherhood themselves and is hoping to work with the Shadowscales and simply gain their trust for some crucial projects in the BM....? That way they wouldn't get to share such a bond but would nonetheless deal with them and learn some things about them. In this sense, the questline is an extension of the DB storyline rather than a separate Shadowscales questline which would restrict the PC to having started as an Argonian.....which is too limiting a prospect for the PC IMO.

[Xae]

Since being a Shadowscale is a lifelong thing that requires full commitment, it pretty much excludes the possibility of the player being one of them or joining them. The fundamentals of the game also prevent the PC from roleplaying as one of them from the start (unless you sit around pretending that all this other stuff with the cities, MQ and other factions isn't really happening). Therefore it's more fitting if the player encounters them only as a bystander. I don't think there's anything BM-important that demands the assistance of the Shadowscales as a group, mostly because they're just assassins. There's no political involvement or faction wars, no special artifacts or important leaders.

I still think it's better if the quest is largely concerned with only one of the Shadowscales, rather than them as a faction. There's a strong sense of 'The Shadowscales wouldn't have anything to do with the player in the first place, no matter what' ringing in my ears and being that every other faction in the game is just begging for you to join it'd be nice if there was at least one that could live up to a more exclusive title.

This, of course, with the possible exception of the quest involving a royal order, as the Shadowscales are oathbound to the court of Argonia but this borders on the Epic-syndrome and yet another world-saving quest.

I can't think of anything other than my previous idea that would allow for extended interaction with the Shadowscales and the 'human element' is about the most interesting thing that could take place in accordance with the lore (I get the impression that these Argonians are like religious fanatics, and they wouldn't do anything besides fulfilling their contracts to the Brotherhood). It's also a confirmation of the idea that misbehaving Shadowscales need to die like fictionalised in the DB quest.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

I'm not quite so sure what you're getting at there because I feel that I'm agreeing with you. As I say, the idea is to have a questline that is mainly DB-based but in BM so that the DB has some experiences of the Shadowscales but is never really a part of them. They would observe some of the actions and decisions but come to no real conclusions. This means that the 'Cold Blood Runs Warm' quest is equally compatible with your own idea. It's just that they're not directly connected. Instead, the questline as a whole would consist of a series of encounters with the Shadowscales that may unnerve the player and make them curious about the Order but would lead to no solid conclusions, thus retaining an air of mystique.

No world-saving then but the PC might well gain skills and the respect of the Shadowscales along the way....

[Eshenaleros]

Originally posted by Xaeaix
It's also a confirmation of the idea that misbehaving Shadowscales need to die like fictionalised in the DB quest.

..or even Ruined-Tail's Tale, if you want to go so far as the quest Simyaz made.

The way I see it, this would be another "approached by someone looking for Help" kind of thing, and there's two ways i can see of going at it from there:

the first would be to have a shadowscale approach the Player to help him with some things. we don't know that he's a shadowscale yet - he's just another adventuring patron to us at this point, and he asks us to aquire some items, a few of which have been taken to Cyrodiil, while the majority have been spread over black marsh. for anybody who doesn't know the rights to use them, these items are simple trinkets, and only shadowscales have any idea what the rights are. These could end up being artifacts holy to sithis, or perhaps something similar to magicka batteries. This result is borderline epic, as you would need to stop this shadowscale from using the artifacts to wreak havoc when you learn that they aren't just trinkets

A rogue shadowscale doesn't want to live as an assassin anymore, maybe because of outside influences and the like. however, you wouldn't get an adventuring buddy like in Ruined-Tail's tale - you'd just be given bits of odd information while you attempt to go and make sure this person's tracks are covered. perhaps This shadowscale has become enthralled by imperial culture, and his/her brethren just don't like that. while the player is there, looking for another quest, a shadowscale comes in and has a conversation with the quest giver, which basically would amount to "Come back to us" "I don't want to" "then we'll kill you". The player would then be asked by the quest giver to use languorwine (something all DB advocates are familiar with) to fake death for the character. But afterwards, the player is approached by an armed group of shadowscales, and is attacked because he killed one of them, whether it was a defector or not, and they have earned themselves an enemy. they can be attacked a few times, but when the shadowscales realize they are outmatched they send a messenger to offer the player a chance to make ammends, if they accept, Thus beginning a quest or a few for the shadowscales themselves. This wouldn't earn them a rank, per-say, but it would make the shadowscales respect them more I suppose. maybe while the player is out doing one of these ammends quests, a shadowscale that resents having to rely on the player would do something to perhaps kill or imprison the player, maybe even just cause him to fail it. He escapes, gets back to the shadowscale quest giver, and finds nobody believes that this jerk of a shadowscale caused his quest to fail. he disrupts a few more quests and eventually the player gets prrof he's disrupting them... and that's all I have for that.

obviously, the second is a good deal more complex than the first one, and doesn't go borderline epic, which is likely something we want to avoid. it also seems it could tie in with Cold Blood Runs Warm

[Ibsen's Ghost]

All food for thought. I'd like to see what IS has to say about the ideas seeing as he has made the claim. Deeza, our resident lore monkey might also have something to add....

[Xae]

Oh, pardon that, I was just developing my train of thought. I repeated myself instead of quoting what I'd written earlier.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Oh, I see. No problem.