Silgrad Tower from the Ashes

I have an ide for a special sub/side quest for maybe the Mages Guild.

There is one memeber in the Guild at LOCATION, who is specialiced at all sorts of Black Magic, and NPCname has read a book that metions a special kind of hood with a mask. And NPCname doesn't want to bother the rest of the members with this little task NPCname has for you, so when you talk to NPCname at some point, NPCname will tell you to meat him/her, at an inn LOCATION/NAME, where you can talk more in private and not being dissturbed by some other mages.
if you accept the offer, he/she will pay you a great deal of money if you can help him/her to get the mask, you will meet at the inn and disscus what NPCname has figguerd out this far.
NPCname says that the special mask that he/she wants, that it is only for scientific puropse, that he/she wants to investigate it to better understand the Black Magic. The name of this mask, is the Mask of Death, this becouse it is said that the owner of the Mask can control some of the worst Undead creatures that can be summoned, and not only that it gives the wearer a shield around them selves, that protect from all sorts of magic exept (kind of magic it doesn't protect from, don't know yet). NPCname has also figguerd out where the Mask of Death is supposed to be hidden/burried, in an old cave in the hills surrounding LOCATION, and if you can go there and get it for him/her, NPCname will make sure that he/she tells the masters of the Guild what a good member you are, and that you shoud get promoted.
And from what is known about the cave that the Mask is supposed to be hidden in, is that it is just a shallow cave with some beasts living there now, before it was a sanctuary for necromansers, but they were driven away from the surroundings of LOCATION a long time ago.

When you are in the cave, you don't find any Mask there, and from what you can see there is only this shallow cave, but then you see something that does look abit missplaced, a tourch holder on the stone wall, you pull it, and a big stoneblock on the other side of the cave room svings up, and revals a long tunnel into the hills. you just have to see what the tunnel leads to, but maybe you didn't want to...
In there you find a large room with a big sacrifacial altar in the center, on a platau, and around that, alot of benches in 3 directions, North, West and East, as you come in from the South, and in thoes other 3 direction you see passages lead to smaller chambers where you see torture chamber and test chambers, and one of them is a store room for corpses for the necromansers to practice on.

As you go towards the center of the big room, all the tourches on the sides of the room are lit at once, but nothing else happens, so you proceed. When you have checked the chambers for any looting, you turn your attention to the altar in the middle, when you get closer you see that it is no normal altar, it is a coffin, and on it, it is some inscriptions, they sound like this:

Under this lid of this coffin lies the Greatest Necromanser of all Times, NPCname, he was the maker of the greatest pice of tool for necromansers the world have yet seen, the Mask of Death.
As no other mortal had the same powers as NPCname had, the Mask of Death was burried with him in this coffin.
The one to break the seal of this coffin will forever be haunted by the spirit of NPCname.

Well, now that you know where the Mask is, there is nothing else to do then to open the coffin, as the good pupil you are.
But that you really didn't want to do, as out comes the spirit of NPCname, with the Mask of Death on him, even if he as spirit is far from his original powers, he is a hard opponent, one of the best magicians there have been.

When/if you manage to kill him again, as he allready is dead, you will have to loot the Mask from his coffin and be on your way out again, but the way out ain't as easy as the way in, now some of the dead necromansers have awoken and are waiting for you in the first cave.

when you finally gets back to the city/town of LOCATION, you get to the Guild hall, and there is your employer waiting for you. you give the Mask to him/her, and you get your reward, even if it now seems way to small.

when you get back to the Guild hall the next day, you meet the rest of your Guild members in the big room, everyone exept NPCname.
they disscus what they have heard during the night coming from NPCname's room, and they have decided that they have to do something about it, but befor they can do that, NPCname comes striding out of his/her room with the Mask put on. He/she is walking slowly towards the gatherd members of the Guild, and tells them that there time has come and passed, and now it is time for NPCname's (necromanser name) hier to come forward, and rid the world once and for all, from all the weak forms of magic, beginning with this very buiding.
then the figth breaks loos.

Then someone else can figgure out a good ending, probably one where you survive...becouse I can't right now, I'm to tired...

well this is my suggestion.

And I do have an item that we could use a the Mask, even if I haven't made it, I have some drawings of it...

This is a nice idea ! :goodjob:


We can tweak it as it develops,

I think this would also fit nicely in the Forgotten Forest, it fits the undead, evil scenerio

I'll think on it some and lets hear what others might suggest

Thanks Much

Enjoy
Bob

Just a few small comments/criticism

-He may not be the "best" necromancer ever, because that title belongs to Mannimarco, the King of Worms who invented necromancy, well, not invented, but spread it around, the inventors were the Sloads.
-You may also not want to say "haunted forever" because that implies he will just annoyingly follow you for the rest of your life. It would be better to say along the lines of "incur their wrath" or something.
-It, yet again, probably isn't the greatest tool of all time, because Mannimarco made 3 of them. The Bloodworm Helm, the Necromancer's Amulet, and the Staff of Worms. You could credit it as being a very powerful tool however, probably infused with the soul of something very particularly powerful.
-I would like it if all of a sudden after barging into the room with the mask, he casts a spell on one of the mages (be sure it's someone worthless) and they turn into a zombie and try to kill people with him. Make sure any NPC's that are needed for any quest or necessary dialogue at all are ticked off as necessary.

An Idea:
Make sure you do indeed put some Necromancers in the cave, maybe sneak in as one of their own in disguise. I'd like it if you enter the cave, and similar to how the Mythic Dawn worked, will ask you if you are joining or something, and you answer yes, or start fighting them all from there if you want. Then if you answered yes you'd be given a robe and sent in. Then someone walks up to you and asks you to perform an experiment for them because they are doing other stuff, so you are brought to a room, given a sacrificial blade and told to kill an unconsious person and take their heart for an experiment. You can say no and they'll see you're a fraud, or you kill him/her, take their heart, and they turn the corpse into a zombie. Then just wait in the cave until they go off to their rooms to sleep, and steal the mask then. But you always have the option to charge in and kill them all.

Nice first tweak

I like the incognito approach and the proving of loyalty as a new member
naturally IATE is totally correct Mannimarco is the supreme necromancer by all known accounts

I have a small project I'm working on called Mantle its the same with respect to the Dark Ritual aspect, the idea is that this place Mantle is a crypt where a dark wizard/necromancer lives (actually he's an undead) but he controls the undead and has ability to summon and create undead creatures (zombie, vampires, things like that) by use of ritual and Human/Mer sacrifice, when I first read Trankintor's post, that was the first thing that popped in my head.


Enjoy
Bob

Ok, I just forgot that quets, well we can make thoes changes and say that the necromanser in the Coffin is one of Mannimarco's first pupills, and that the Mask is one of the greatest tools, not THE greatest.

And I allsoe like that which looks like the Mystic Dawn thing, it makes it much more fun And that with the Employer changing one member to a Zombie is fun too.

But, I do feel that something have ot happen when you open the coffin...why not his ghost comes out, but can't hurt you only call for all the other necromansers in there to come and stop you?
But you don't have to fight them all as we might do something to stop them, like a trap or that we can close a large gate behind us for a short period that allowes us to escape. But I'm not to sure about that, it is just a thought.

I have another idea for the confrontation with the ghost.

He awakens and lets out a yell, and the other necromacers hear and come running. Then he says he wants to fight in private, so he casts a spell and suddenly those wall things from the Ayleid Ruins shoot up out of the ground (you know, the ones that usually have poison gas in the middle) and they surround you, closing off the other necromacers. Then you two fight in private and when he dies they go back down. Then you are at the mercy of the necromancers.

Well, wont that be almoest inpossible to do, what I mean is that you will make it out alive, if you nearly died trying to kill the Ghost, then the walls come down again, then you have some 6 necromansers to fight too, and probably some 6 Zombies too...

But, well you don't have to fight you can just run, run for your life...

i really like it, and i think it can be done. :goodjob:

From there on, it's pretty much a run for the door.

How about some of theses options


The Necromancer is Dead, he is in a tomb within this place
The Mask is in his possesion, anyone who has tryed to remove the mask has awakened his horrifiying spirit who can summon lesser undead and is pretty powerful by himself, when the player goes in, the spirit is awakened and a dialogue takes place, when the dialogue is completed the room is sealed and the spirit attacks, once defeated the room is unsealed and the player can leave.

a) The player can either leave through the doorway and face the other Necromancers and fight or run,

b) The player can put the mask on and attempt to walk out, the necromancers will originally think the their leader has risen, but then theirs a chance someone will recognize the fake

c) The player can use the mask to summon undead to fight for him/her and escape during the battle

Enjoy
Bob