Special Bow |
FC4
First Knight
Registration Date: 09.04.2008
Posts: 104
Location: La Florida!
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It has been requested of me by a certain Chris_07 to write a book for a
quest in this mod. Here is what I was told. Make a book with a story
concerning a special bow. No specifics were given, and I was
essentially given free reign.
Now, you all shall learn what it means to give FC4 'free reign' over
ANYTHING. The following is a story for the bow, named Insanity's Soul,
and concept art along with a bio of the bow. Hope you like.
Insanity’s soul
By Farlin Cacerin IV
Author’s Note: This is a tale told to me some time ago, when I
traveled to the wilds of Valenwood. A dear Bosmeri friend of mine, he
is the source of a local legend that I again cannot verify, but have
published for you reading pleasure.
Arwil stood upon one of the multitude of thick branches that comprised
the graht-oak tree of Falinesti. The marvelous capital of Valenwood was
a giant tree, or some say a collection of symbiotic great trees, that
migrated with the seasons, going south in the summer and north in the
winter, like a bird. Now, it was nestled in the southern cape near to
Greenheart, and from Arwil’s height he could see the three small isles
sitting off the coast. And he was only half a mile up the tree city.
Falinesti towered over the forests at a mile high, maybe even more, and
Arwil delighted in heading up there for the view alone.
But now, the little Bosmer had other plans, and he gazed intently as a
lantern was snuffed out in the night, the owner going to bed. Grabbing
a nearby vine a few minutes later, Arwil swung down to the home and
fell through the small window made by judicious cultivation of
wood-eating insects. He rolled into the room swiftly and stopped
himself, smiling as the occupant remained asleep.
It was a small home, carved into the trunk of the great tree by animals
and insects. Furniture fashioned from clay and bone decorated the room,
but Arwil focused on but one thing; the bow hanging on the wall. He
crept up and pulled it down, cradling it before slinking back out of
the home through the screen door of naturally growing vines and animal
bone. It clinked softly as he passed, and he grabbed a vine before
swinging away, a satisfied grin on his little face.
Arwil awoke the next morning as the petals of his floral home opened to
the sun, burning into his eyes. The first thing he did was check on his
new bow.
He had every reason to be fascinated by his new loot. Fashioned from
bone, the shaft of the bow was two femurs from a large beast shaved
down to a finger’s width to allow the bone to bend but not break. The
femurs were connected to a humerus, the upper arm bone being covered by
hard leather that wrapped around it and the ends of the femurs,
creating a handle. On the top femur a skull had been slipped on, a
skull of what looked like some kind of wolf or fox, the jawbone gone
and the semicircle eye socket usable as a rest for the arrow. The
bowstring was fashioned from sinew and tied to the ball joints of the
femurs. All of this had been polished to a fine white sheen.
Arwil could feel power within the bow as he took out a bone arrow and
placed the head in the eye socket of the skull, pulling back the
string. He aimed at the clay table of his home and felt satisfaction in
the clunk of the arrow against the clay. Shouldering the bow, he
scurried through the branch network of Falinesti. Now that his mission
was completed, he had to leave the city, move elsewhere for a few
months until the law simmered down and his theft was forgotten. It was
a two day travel to Greenheart, and that was his goal.
~~~~~
Arwil jolted awake as he heard rustling in the wild trees around him,
and he quickly moved his hands to the bone bow on his back, and the
arrows of his quiver. Carefully, confidently, he knocked the arrow and
pulled back the sinew string, his hazel eyes searching for the source
of the disturbance.
A robed man, Bosmeri in figure but shrouded by the dark fabric he wore,
crashed out of the underbrush, swinging a longsword fashioned from a
single animal bone. Arwil cried out in alarm and fired, but the bone
arrow went clean through the figure, as if he was non-existent. The
robed man continued his charge at alarming speed, and Arwil found
himself forced to draw his own ivory shortsword to block the incoming
strike.
Unlike the arrow, the shortsword thudded against his attacker’s blade,
and Arwil grinned. Kneeing the man in the chest, he took advantage of
the man’s stumbling back and retreated into the forest, knocking
another arrow as he held his shortsword between his teeth. As the man
got up from the ground, Arwil fired again.
The arrow did nothing, going clean through his head and seeming to have
no effect on the man. Silently the mysterious attacker charged again,
and Arwil dropped the bow as he went into a crouch, spitting his dagger
into his hand and lunging forward under the coming slash, seeking to
stab his opponent.
But the man was inexplicably gone, and Arwil crashed to the ground,
rolling to his feet to look around in wonder. There was no trace of the
man, not even paths in the underbrush. Arwil frowned, retrieving the
bow and continuing on his way. He couldn’t sleep here, not if someone
had found him.
~~~~~~~
When Arwil finally reached Greenheart, he was a sight to behold. Bags
hung under his eyes and he walked with a nearly undead gait; scratches
and bruises marred his features. He looked like a warrior returning
from war.
And indeed he was. The trip ended up taking three nights instead of
two, and each night he discovered himself attacked by that irksome elf
in robes. Each time his arrows failed to stop the attacks, and finally
after the third night he got wise and uses just his shortsword, and
managed to spill the man’s blood. Even though he tried to eat his kill,
though, the man’s body had disappeared before Arwil could finish
flaying him, and he got only an arm out of the deal.
Arwil entered Greenheart’s local inn, which was fashioned from wood
imported from the Summerset Isles and built by merchants. It wasn’t
like his forest home, but right now, Arwil did not care. He sat himself
down at the bar and ordered a flask of beetle wine, drinking it
happily.
And yet, he couldn’t calm down despite the drink. Night had fallen once
again, and now with every turn of a patron’s head and every whisper of
cloth in the air Arwil was turning and grabbing for his ivory
shortsword. People had begun to look at the Bosmer oddly as he drank,
trying to quell his unease. But the stares only made him more jumpy. If
he stayed in the bar any longer he felt he would go insane. So he paid
for a room and rushed upstairs with all haste, crashing down on the
foreign made bed after laying the bone bow he had worked so hard to
steal on the dresser.
He found himself falling asleep easily, as the fatigue of three days
caught up with him. However, his sleep was light, as but a flutter of
robe awoke him, and Arwil squeaked like a frighten mouse to find the
robed man standing over him, his own ivory shortsword pressed on his
throat.
“What do you want with me? Who are you?” Arwil tried to demand, hoping
to buy time to think of an escape. But his words came out in more of a
frightened child’s voice. The robed figure did not respond for a
moment, before gesturing his head towards the bone bow lying on the
table.
“I want your mind. I want your soul.” The robed man finally whispered,
before the shortsword that had reputedly slew him became the slayer of
his slayer.
As described in the story, it is made from bone and leather, with a sinew bowstring.
There is an enchantment of Soul Trap upon it, kinda like Umbra. It is a
strong bow, rivaling Bonemold bows of Morrowind in strength.
However, it comes with a price. Unless it takes a soul through the Soul
Trap spell each day, the spirit within the bow will manifest at night,
and seek to kill the wielder of the bow. The arrows shot from the bow
during this fight will not harm the robed attacker. Other weapons will,
however. Think of it as the Wrath of Sithis, sorta. But if the bow
enchantment is used and fills a soul gem once a day, the spirit is
satisfied.
You like, yes?
__________________ Ze one and only...
FC4
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09.04.2008 02:25 |
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chris 07
First Knight
Registration Date: 02.07.2007
Posts: 154
Location: Valenwood
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NICE! I dont like it, I love it! Its doable too! We should do it like
the vampire quest, how you get bitten when you sleep, except you die in
this case...hehe awesome! I love the design of the bow too, hehe
welcome to the team my friend!
__________________ Proud Valenwood Modder!
3 claimed
2 finished!
(Soon to be changed!)
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09.04.2008 02:38 |
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chris 07
First Knight
Registration Date: 02.07.2007
Posts: 154
Location: Valenwood
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Well if you die then you end up right before you go to sleep anyways,
which will give you time to kill something with it then go asleep.
I dont see why you cant claim it.
__________________ Proud Valenwood Modder!
3 claimed
2 finished!
(Soon to be changed!)
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09.04.2008 04:39 |
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JAAdventurer
First Knight
Registration Date: 16.03.2008
Posts: 130
Location: Not here, but not really over there either.
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Yay, MINE! I needed something to make besides trees. I'll get right on it, kind of.
On the topic of the apparition that will kill you, players who have one
of those weird "you only get so many saves per character level" mods
(they're out there, I've seen them) would hate to be short one save
because, "oops, I forgot to make a soulgem using the creepy bone bow."
It's really up to you guys who are working in the CS, but in my humble
opinion, a shadowy, ghostly figure that you wake up and have to fight
off would be way cooler. It makes the difference between "Do I reload
my save and try to find something nearby to kill?" and "Oh great, I
forgot to kill something *draws weapon, fights epic fight, and nearly
dies in subduing the spirity-thing*" after a few instances of the
second, the player will no longer forget to fill their soulgems.
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09.04.2008 05:14 |
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chris 07
First Knight
Registration Date: 02.07.2007
Posts: 154
Location: Valenwood
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Well a guy appearing to you is possible, so I dont see why not.
__________________ Proud Valenwood Modder!
3 claimed
2 finished!
(Soon to be changed!)
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09.04.2008 06:29 |
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windsurfer
Seigneur
Registration Date: 03.10.2006
Posts: 643
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Amazing mate and fits perfectly to the quest:
Someone else could have found it and brought it to the Islands. They
then went hunting and the same thing happerns. They ended up being
killed in the cave where the player finds the bow. That man would have
been the crazy mans freind and for that reason he locked up the cave
where his mate was killed and started drinking becoming the crazy man
he is!! Perfect quest.
Just need a scripts for the crazy man and soon that can be added.
For the bow animated and its not that hard. Here is what I used:
http://www.alys.org/gallery/Windys-Bow-Tutorial
Not sure how to do it easily but I found it hard to match the drawn bow
with the hand of the player. I coudn't seem to find out how to import a
drawn model of the bow to copy?
Also Welcome to Valenwood Mate
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09.04.2008 10:46 |
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raggidman
Prince
Registration Date: 06.01.2006
Posts: 3,317
Location: where my heart is
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2 quests fo rthe price of one |
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The kill you bit is very final, though suitably dramatic! And it works well.
Now as it is, it seems the player finds the bow and the book fairly
quickly, plus the effect of the bow is immediately obvious.
You can be sure this will be a fine and dramatic book!
rewards: so long as the sword is cursed and you keep, it is either soul traps or one shot kills ...
if broken? does that break the enchantments?
can this curse be removed?
If yes then I suggest it keeps a level of enhanced performance, but no
more one-shot stuff and the Soul Trap ability, but at a moderate level
= great for a new character
Now this has inspired a further thought or two =
a quick kill vs pure torture:
What would you feel if there was another damned thing (possibly another bow) drained your stats instead of a direct kill?
The ghost is already dead - but maybe it wants to 'return' by replacing
its own vital substance with yours, but being insubstantial can only
achieve this bit-by-bit ... with a hidden stat drain. Each successful
attack makes it a tiny bit more substantial and dangerous. If the
second book was far off and very hard to find ... then of course, the
bow is cursed, so the player cannot remove it without the spell in the
book!
Rewards = remove curse spell from book + the bow itself gives added stats as long as it is equipped.
Also once the curse is removed what happens with the 'ghostly spectre'?
Could he be converted to a semi-substantial friend? And natch once the
curse is removed your stats gradually heal, but 'your new friend' keeps
part of you within him.
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09.04.2008 13:49 |
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FLESH
Archduke
Registration Date: 23.06.2006
Posts: 2,823
Location: Ireland
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RE: 2 quests fo rthe price of one |
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Great read
I like the bow idea aswell. Although I think it should go as in the
story, you only get a few chances to fight him, then evetually you get
no chance and he kills you (if you don't get souls say, 3 times in a
row).
And Welcome to Valenwood
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09.04.2008 15:36 |
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FC4
First Knight
Registration Date: 09.04.2008
Posts: 104
Location: La Florida!
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Thanks for the lovin'!
Now as for the bow enchantment/curse. The basic of it is there is a
soul in the bow, that wants to consume souls. Kinda like Umbra. If you
do not feed it souls through the Soul Trap magic of the bow, it will
attack you that night and try to kill you and take your own soul.
If you consistently fail to feed it souls, one night it will be
completely invincible and destroy you. Killing the spirit will not stop
it; it returns the next night. The arrows shot from the bow do not harm
the spectre.
I can work on a second story that deals with how the bow can be
disenchanted, but if the bow is disenchanted I feel it should be
complete, taking ALL effects away from the bow and weakening its
strength, making it equal to maybe Ebony rather than Daedric and
Bonemold. So it's a toss up; remove the curse and lose the enchantment
and power, but also be free to re-enchant it with something else, or
keep the enchantment, keep the spirit happy, and keeping the bow
strength.
And the quest to undo the curse would involve a final fight with the soul, as well.
__________________ Ze one and only...
FC4
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09.04.2008 17:07 |
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FLESH
Archduke
Registration Date: 23.06.2006
Posts: 2,823
Location: Ireland
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Thats how I thought you meant it. And more literature is always great
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09.04.2008 17:12 |
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FC4
First Knight
Registration Date: 09.04.2008
Posts: 104
Location: La Florida!
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I'll get to work on the second part of the quest, the story concerning
the breaking of the curse. That might take some time to do, though.
Whoever starts modeling the bow... treat my baby right.
__________________ Ze one and only...
FC4
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09.04.2008 18:07 |
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chris 07
First Knight
Registration Date: 02.07.2007
Posts: 154
Location: Valenwood
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Sounds good FC4!
hehe almost? Good luck JAA! And FC4 of course.
__________________ Proud Valenwood Modder!
3 claimed
2 finished!
(Soon to be changed!)
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10.04.2008 00:53 |
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JAAdventurer
First Knight
Registration Date: 16.03.2008
Posts: 130
Location: Not here, but not really over there either.
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Alright, model status report soon to come, but first I noticed a bit of
a problem with the sketch: as far as I can tell, arrows go exactly
where that skull is.
Will this not be a problem, or what do we plan to do to fix said possible problem.
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11.04.2008 17:10 |
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windsurfer
Seigneur
Registration Date: 03.10.2006
Posts: 643
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"the semicircle eye socket usable as a rest for the arrow"
So the eye has to match up with the arrow position
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11.04.2008 17:24 |
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raggidman
Prince
Registration Date: 06.01.2006
Posts: 3,317
Location: where my heart is
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Through the eye-socket? Something about that in the story.
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11.04.2008 17:48 |
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FC4
First Knight
Registration Date: 09.04.2008
Posts: 104
Location: La Florida!
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Okay, I've been thinking and the only way the Bow could be cleansed of
the curse would be to remove the soul from the bow, because the soul is
the source.
As such, you would require a necromancer... Would there be any necro's
in Valenwood, and where would they hang? Also, you'd probably have an
epic fight at the end with the spirit to quell it's anger at
exorcism...
Or maybe not... haven't worked that part of the story out yet. You all
are soon to learn how epic I can make even the littlest things become.
__________________ Ze one and only...
FC4
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12.04.2008 03:46 |
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raggidman
Prince
Registration Date: 06.01.2006
Posts: 3,317
Location: where my heart is
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I did mention a book? And the magic may have changed but in Morrowind
Restoration had spells to turn ghosts, Mysticism used to have dispell.
There might be a Necro - by why would such co-operate?
But a Necro or other NPC might have a book from which you could learn
the spell/s needed to disenchant/dispell or exorcise as desired.
The book might also contain a parchment/scroll that could be used once only to do the job ... etc
Thus a magic user could learn the spell and a warrior/thief could use
the parchment. The magic user would not be so proficient with the bow
and so would get the bonus of both learning the spell/s and keeping the
parchment for later.
Suggest you ask yourself how and why the bow was made as it is ...
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12.04.2008 12:07 |
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raggidman
Prince
Registration Date: 06.01.2006
Posts: 3,317
Location: where my heart is
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12.04.2008 17:26 |
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JAAdventurer
First Knight
Registration Date: 16.03.2008
Posts: 130
Location: Not here, but not really over there either.
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When I say everyone, I mean just give the player the scroll to dispell
the ghost, and forget about the spell. This is just a side-quest and if
the player isn't interested in the bow, they can just either not do the
quest or chuck the bow down the deepest, darkest pit they can find.
What good would a ghost-dispelling spell do the player anyways? Unless
we can just make it so that it will be an instant kill for any undead
creatures. |
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12.04.2008 17:46 |
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FLESH
Archduke
Registration Date: 23.06.2006
Posts: 2,823
Location: Ireland
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I think the spell should be a scroll. Meaning one use.
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12.04.2008 17:55 |
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FC4
First Knight
Registration Date: 09.04.2008
Posts: 104
Location: La Florida!
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The necro would of course not do it without some form of payment, duh!
I'll try to take all of this into consideration... if I can weed it out from the banter
__________________ Ze one and only...
FC4
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12.04.2008 23:24 |
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FC4
First Knight
Registration Date: 09.04.2008
Posts: 104
Location: La Florida!
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In other words...
cut the spam please, people, and keep this thread focused.
__________________ Ze one and only...
FC4
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14.04.2008 17:45 |
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JAAdventurer
First Knight
Registration Date: 16.03.2008
Posts: 130
Location: Not here, but not really over there either.
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Sorry, having a few laughs got a bit off topic. Hm. So this will be a three-part quest?
Part 1, You get the bow.
Part 2, You get the scroll, and with it the chance to be rid of the evil spirit, plus hear about...
Part 3, You get a spell that allows you to un-enchant objects (with the side effect of having to kill the released soul)
The spell from part 3 could be awesome if we could get it to work well
for any soul, but I assume that tracking what kind of creature's soul
is used in each enchanted item might become intense script-wise. Just
an idea to throw out there, it might have to be integrated into the
story if it can be done. This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by JAAdventurer: 14.04.2008 23:48.
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14.04.2008 23:48 |
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raggidman
Prince
Registration Date: 06.01.2006
Posts: 3,317
Location: where my heart is
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You are currently on the Islands
Part 1 you get the bow
- - 2 - you get to battle the dammed ghost every time you go to sleep
- - - 3 - you seek out the holder and get the scroll
- - - - 4 - you learn from the holder of another such object in
Valenwood and a special spell that can disenchant objects! But the
holder of the scroll does not know where it is!
Maybe whoever made the scroll will know? But the holder of the scroll
does not know who made the scroll - only that he bought it in ??? a
City in Valenwood ... and there is a possible MQ path from the Islands
onto the Mainland.
NB - The disenchant object spell is not a ghost removal spell!
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15.04.2008 00:29 |
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chris 07
First Knight
Registration Date: 02.07.2007
Posts: 154
Location: Valenwood
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Interesting, a quest like this can easily get big fast, so here's a
debate, should this quest be a bigish quest, or a small quest?
__________________ Proud Valenwood Modder!
3 claimed
2 finished!
(Soon to be changed!)
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15.04.2008 00:35 |
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FLESH
Archduke
Registration Date: 23.06.2006
Posts: 2,823
Location: Ireland
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Medium perhaps? Theres not enough in it to be huge, but definitely
enough content to entertain the player for a while. Hence it's not a
small misc quest, but a medium one with very nice rewards and
repercussions.
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15.04.2008 17:32 |
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raggidman
Prince
Registration Date: 06.01.2006
Posts: 3,317
Location: where my heart is
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Yes all 3 solutions are applicable.
This first Quest that FC4 has created is small with strong impact.
If they find it appealing then people will be happy to find there is more to it and that is really what a teaser is for.
As a Quest in itself a continuation would not likely go beyond medium
size. But as stated it could be used to lead the player to other,
bigger things and new communities, locations etc.
A dispell enchantment on object spell would be like the Holy Grail to
power gamers, and great fun for all! So that should maintain their
interest for quite a way. Let the scoffers scoff - they will still
download our mod to get the
spell
One of the fascinating things in life and gaming is making new connections and discovering new things. And ES is always about making oyur own choices.
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15.04.2008 18:24 |
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JAAdventurer
First Knight
Registration Date: 16.03.2008
Posts: 130
Location: Not here, but not really over there either.
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Great! Now, the only problem that I forsee is with the un-enchant
spell/scroll. Is the script possible? If an object is enchanted by the
player, it still has it's original ID and we can use a siple
remove-replace using the object's ID as a variable. But if the object
is unique, we have no way of knowing what the un-enchanted form of the
object is. Is there some way around this that I don't know about? |
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15.04.2008 22:19 |
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FC4
First Knight
Registration Date: 09.04.2008
Posts: 104
Location: La Florida!
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[Hastily scrawled on back cover]
Legend true! Legend true! Hurian, he found bow. Fled to isles to not
get caught. We knew not the legend! We knew not the horror!
It killed him! Man in robes killed him! Had no choice! Had to hide bow.
Had to keep world safe from evil robes. Hid in maze beneath the isle.
Center maze locked tight in chest of rocks. None find but me.
Rock of third, hollow and hidden by five. Magic guards, keeps safe from adventurer. None must find! None must release horror!
What is above is a new addition to the book I wrote, and would be found
in game at the end. The writer is the crazy old man you speak of. You
mentioned some cave maze, so I mentioned that. Five monoliths of stone
at the center of the maze, and one of them would be the stash hiding
the bow. Trapped by magic, perhaps a lingering damage health spell that
can be countered by a weak healing potion.
Maybe I'm thinking too big, but I thought of this as well. The man
would tell you to destroy the bow, that he has studied and knows how.
If you choose not to, he will proclaim you will need a shaman or
necromancer to release the curse.
The shaman would be easy to find, in a nearby town. The necro... not so
easy. If your fame is higher than your infamy, the shaman will agree to
help you, knowing you will put the bow to good use. If your infamy is
higher than your fame, the Shaman will not help you, but the
Necromancer will.
Each will require something be done, however. Ironically, the Shaman
will require you to slay a local necromancer. The necromancer will
require that you slay the townspeople, who have haggled him for too
long. (or at least the Shaman, if killing the whole town sounds over
the top and not plausible).
The shaman will write up a scroll to eliminate the spirit, which you
could chose to use on the bow or on something else. The necromancer
will perform the ritual right in front of you, and thereby you will
learn the spell.
(What I just said can be changed easily if none of you agree.)
Either way, you gotta dance with the spirit of the bow before finally finishing the quest.
__________________ Ze one and only...
FC4
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15.04.2008 23:35 |
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BusterWolF
Seigneur
Registration Date: 24.05.2007
Posts: 268
Location: Australia
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So has anyone made a model yet? Its a good bow, its new and easy. You should start modeling it.
__________________ Maybe it's intuition
But some things you just don't question
Like in your eyes
I see my future in an instant
And there it goes
I think I've found my best friend
-End Quote- Savage Garden
BusterWolF
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16.04.2008 17:04 |
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FLESH
Archduke
Registration Date: 23.06.2006
Posts: 2,823
Location: Ireland
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The model is indeed made, JAA is making it work in-game at the moment
I like your branching ideas FC4. But killing the town is over the top methinks
Perhaps since the Shaman wants you to kill something, we shouldn't re-use that ideas for the Necro?
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16.04.2008 17:10 |
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FC4
First Knight
Registration Date: 09.04.2008
Posts: 104
Location: La Florida!
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I just thought it would be kinda funny... the Necro wants the shaman
dead, the shaman wants the necro dead. A bit of irony that would take
multiple times of doing the quest with different characters to find.
I'll work on the quest itself now. This work will start with the
discovery of the book in the old man's home. If it does tie in with the
Main quest, the 'HOW' will be determined when the main quest is made.
__________________ Ze one and only...
FC4
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16.04.2008 17:29 |
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FLESH
Archduke
Registration Date: 23.06.2006
Posts: 2,823
Location: Ireland
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In truth killing seems better suited to the necro, and the shaman might
want something "nice" to be done. But reversing them is wonderfully
ironic
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16.04.2008 17:30 |
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JAAdventurer
First Knight
Registration Date: 16.03.2008
Posts: 130
Location: Not here, but not really over there either.
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Sometimes the necro has to die. It'd be just like the Roxey Inn quest.
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16.04.2008 17:35 |
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