DSW: The Missing Skull [Charger24]

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roerich
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DSW: The Missing Skull [Charger24]

Post by roerich »

An Orcish delegation from Orsinium has been sent to Dragonstar West, in order to retrieve the skull of Gortwog gro-Nagorm's brother, Lakush gro-Nagorm. The delegation isn't allowed to enter the Crown-controlled western part of the city. Due to the influence of the Cult of Diagna (and general anti-Orcish sentiments among Redguards), they have been denied entrance into the city. They can either be found in the wilderness to the west or northwest of the city (no yurt ints, but perhaps some gear and a campfire, which disappears once the quest is over), or in a tavern in Dragonstar East. They come into contact with the player, and asks for their help. Even if the player is an Orc too, the player has a different legal status than these Orsinium officials, and as such is able to enter DSW.

Gorthwog's brother was slain in a border skirmish, when an Orcish warrior party patrolling the Bjoulsae border, was lured into the Dragontail Mts. and ambushed by Diagnan cultists. The Redguards cut off his head and brought it back to the temple of Diagna as a trophy. The Diagnan cult of the Dragontails has become more desperate and aggresive in the years following the Nordic expansion. Hoping that Diagna will reappear (or send an avatar) and drive out the Nords from their lands, they are becoming increasingly bold in their attempts to outdo each other with heroic feats.

The player will go to the Diagna temple in Dragonstar West, and try to retrieve the skull either by either stealth, diplomacy or combat. Confronting the cult leader Selim about the skull will first of all get you some highly offensive comments about the Orcish race, but he will eventually agree to a duel over the skull. The player will have to fight one of their best warriors right then and there. The player can also attempt to steal the skull, but it should be pretty well protected. A player with good speechcraft skills might persuade Selim to hand it over in exchange for something. Other creative solutions are also welcome, but these cultists shouldn't be easy to reason with.

Alternative solution: If the player has completed a Thieves Guild quest, where they steal back a number of Orichalc artifact weapons from the Castle Dragonstar vault, Selim will hand the skull over out of gratitude.

Returning the skull to the Orcish delegation will give you a hefty monetary reward, or perhaps an unique artifact of Orsinium origin. They will also let the player know, that he or she now has a standing invitation from King Gorthwog, should their travels ever lead them there.

Please use the ID prefix Sky_qRe_DSW02_
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Rakanishu
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Post by Rakanishu »

Granted to Charger24 for his showcase once I upload a new version of the DS section file.

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Taniquetil
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Post by Taniquetil »

Uploading as backup/proof of progress.
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Clean The Missing Skull (Charger24 quest showcase).ESP
WIP, first part (crossing the wall) done
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Post by Taniquetil »

Evidently I misunderstood some particulars of this quest. Notably, that the Crowns should be the ones blocking the Orsinium delegation from crossing, not the Census and Excise Office. As discussed with roerich on discord, I'll keep working on this after some other DS features have been implemented (border crossing mechanisms, finished Diagna Temple int, Crowns faction, final TG quest) that are important to the quest. In the meantime, I'll keep my eyes open to see where else I can be helpful.
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Post by Taniquetil »

Not done, just another WIP, with most of the middle dialogue written and implemented. Still needs to be adjusted to make the Crowns the problem party instead of the C&E, but I'm waiting on further DS implementation (Diagna temple + guard captain NPCs?) to do that. For now it's just the original quest 80% done, only missing the final combat event and the alternate TG quest ending (which also requires things not yet in DS sectionfile).
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Post by Taniquetil »

Ready for review.
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Sky_qRe_DSW02 - The Missing Skull.ESP
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Post by Taniquetil »

I forgot to comment on this that this that I still need to add a back-path to completing this quest based on the PC finishing the Orichalcum weapons part of the DSTG questline once Kaiel is finished with it. I figure I will need to adjust things in the above file when it's reviewed anyway, so that's when I'll add it.
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Post by Taniquetil »

Don't review yet. Decided to cut out everything involving paperwork because it's boring and doesn't add anything meaningful to the quest. Will upload an adjusted version tonight.
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Post by Taniquetil »

Here's the updated (and much better, I think) version. Still needs editing for the DSTG quest connection once that gets merged, but otherwise this is again ready for review.
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Rakanishu
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Post by Rakanishu »

Reviewing

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Post by Rakanishu »

Merged into Dragonstar section file

You have my recommendation for promotion to quest developer and you won't need to modify this claim any further, but I do highly recommend that you read the review below:

General:
- For the sake of consistency, dialogue conditions should start at the first row. If they start anywhere else, then it suggests a condition tied to an item or variable was deleted by the CS due to that item or variable's deletion/modification

Journal:
- The multiple paths were laid out very well for a non-linear quest (and a showcase at that), but there were some minor short-circuits here and there that caused some odd dialogue to appear
- I changed the order and numbering of the journal entries to group them into logical "stages": beginning (000s), talking to Gorelius and/or Alak'tol (100s), interacting with the Diagnans (200s), ending (300s), and fail state (400). This (in my opinion) is a new approach and might help to condition dialogue based on large blocks of journal entries and account for edge cases, while still allowing the player to decide how they want to play within those stages
- I also added a global var (Sky_qRe_DSW02_Auth_glb) which indicates whether Alak'tol gave authorization to serve as the Orcs' representative -- just a minor change that goes hand-in-hand with the new grouping
- Added a fail state if the player kills Sharga

Items:
- Shortened the ID of the Orcish Longsword (not necessary since it was at 31 chars, but easier to read in CS)

NPCs/Creatures:
- Added Escort packages to Azarg and Lurog

Scripting/Dialogue Results:
- Replaced some StartCombat dialogue results with "StartScript Sky_Dia_AttackPlayer"
- CellChanged, OnDeath, and other one-time events should, if possible, be checked only once at the very top of the script (above MenuMode checks)
- Sky_qRe_DSW02_FightIgatal
* Added journal check to OnDeath
- Sky_qRe_DSW02_Orcs_sc
* StopScript only has an effect in global scripts
* Slight optimization
- Sky_qRe_DSW02_Skull_sc:
* StopScript only has an effect in global scripts
* Player now can't pick up the skull if they haven't started DSW02

Dialogue:
- Sharga's dialogue entry that's filtered for the two conditions "Journal == 100" and "Journal == 120" won't fire because each condition must be true (which isn't possible)
- Added fallback entries in the event that the player doesn't have the required items
- Dirty entries: 26674136941650320177 ("latest rumors"), 877243101385023889 ("latest rumors"), 3203210972392022547 (Greeting 1), 3005715847863319923 (Greeting 5)

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Rakanishu
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Post by Rakanishu »

Please keep this in Reviewing until the Dragonstar Thieves Guild path for this quest is created and merged

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Post by Rakanishu »

Path added. Moving to Completed

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