[Q1-3-Mis] Selkies [Reviewing]

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Infragris
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[Q1-3-Mis] Selkies [Reviewing]

Post by Infragris »

A local rumor claims that several townsfolk have seen Selkies (a Redguard variation on mermaid myths) on the beaches of Stirk from their fishing boats. Most think it nonsense, but the rumors point to some who claim to have seen more. One of them is Varian Tragia, a young worker on the docks. Varian says he saw a Selkie on the north beach, and, moreover, that he has fallen madly in love with her. He is busy with his work right now, but begs the PC to go inspect the north beach. He also mentions Aenaias Geraneus, the musician in the Sload's Tale, as one who knows more about Selkies.

(Optional) ask Aenaias Geraneus about Selkies: he will explain more about their mythology: magical sea-creatures who can change their skins to walk on land, and can be captured by those who steal these skins. Selkies are explicitly a myth, Aenaias even theorizes that hey were based on the more vicious Lamias.

Go to the north beach: player discovers several things: shells, a comb and, if they look closely, a Selkie skin hidden under a bush. Picking up the skin will trigger a messagebox/Journal update saying that the skin looks sewn together and artificial. The player is prompted to seek out the local clothier.

(Optional end 01) Bring the skin back to Varian, and sell it to him for fifty gold. This will end the quest. The player will be able to do this for any stage of the quest from this point, but it quickly becomes a bad idea.

Approach Josette Leclerc, the clothier. Confront her with the skin and she will be very amused, and explain that she made it for some girls in town for a joke. A first she will refuse to give their names, but persuade/bribe her and she will reveal their names: Marina and Hesta, two young fisherwomen.

Approach Marina and Hesta, show them the skin. They will explain that they dressed up as Selkies when they knew the fishermen were passing by, partly to have some fun and start some rumors, but also because, as long as the fishermen are hanging around the north beach, the girls will have free reign over the pearl beds down south. They ask the player to keep this a secret.

(Optional end 02) The player vows not to reveal their secret, and returns the skin to the girls. Reward is several pearls, as well as the location of an abundant Kollop bank south of the island.

(Optional end 03) Tell Varian about the con. Might offer the player ten coins. Only works if you have the pelt with you as evidence, he will not believe you otherwise.

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Infragris
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Post by Infragris »

That's what happens when you choose optional end 01.

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worsas
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Post by worsas »

I imagine it to be a semi-transparent cloth with a fish scale like structure myself. You could use a vanilla clothpiece as placeholder for now?

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Infragris
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Post by Infragris »

Selkies are not mermaids, they're a kind of seal spirit. The bearskin item from Bloodmoon should be adequate.

It was originally supposed to be Varian, but I switched it to Quintus because the former is a dockworker and the story requires the witness to be a fisherman. Must have forgotten to change the description here. Just go with Quintus.

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Post by worsas »

Now I have playtested this quest and again I found it too difficult. Even with my pre-knowledge of the questplan, I wouldn't have managed to solve it without checking back in the CS. For players that don't know about the questplan at all, it's going to be even more unlikely to solve.

My suggestions:
- Put the selkie-skin somewhere closer to the water. Keep in mind that people won't even look for a small item like this, they are looking for a selkie and will probably be confused by any lamia they encounter. They might swim off to the little islands north of Stirk etc etc. The Selkie skin should be lying somewhere in the sand where people are likely to come across it. The selkie skin should be disabled by default and only show up once you have accepted the quest.

- There should be a generic entry for all inhabitants of stirk for the Selkies topic, just saying that it's a redguard myth and that Aenais Geraneus can tell more about it.
- Aenais Geraneus should have a more detailled topic entry on Selkies including a mention of Quintus Tragia, it can be very similar to his topic entry for the latest rumours.

- when you have the selkie skin in your inventory and speak to anyone on the island but Quintus Tragia or other involved people, you can show the skin you found and will be told that it looks like sewn together and that Josette Leclerc may be able to say something on it.

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Post by worsas »

"The fishermen have been making fun of Quintus Tragia, the son of old Gaius, about something. I don't know what it's all about, though. Maybe ask one of them."
now unlocks the topic selkies. Why? It doesn't make any sense.

Also, if you ask Aenais Geraneu about selkies:
"Everyone is talking about Selkies and that a local fisherman has saw them. If you want to more about Selkies I suggest you go talk to Aenais Geraneu, he's in The Sload's Tale."

All the other changes seemed good to me.

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Post by worsas »

Ok. After one more round of playtesting and trying out all kinds of things, the quest seems to be fairly waterproof.

Just two little details that could be addressed yet:
When asked about Latest rumours, Quintus Tragia speaks about himself:
Quintus Tragia, the son of old Gaius, claims he saw a selkie on the beach when he was out fishing. A selkie! I'll bet my boat the boy's been drinking.
The fishermen have been making fun of Quintus Tragia, the son of old Gaius, about something. I don't know what it's all about, though. Maybe ask one of them.
There should be an additional filter making sure that Quintus Tragia doesn't use these dialogue entries.

Not sure if it's intentional, but Muribus Curgusis doesn't give a hint about the selkie skin looking like silk anymore in your latest version. It's not a particularly important piece of dialogue, but I thought I'd mention it regardless.

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Post by Infragris »

I've made a revised version of this:
  • Spellcheck errors (I'm sure I've introduced a couple myself, though) and dialogue rewrite
  • Applied unique selkie skin mesh/icon
  • Added kollop bank and dialogue directions on how to get there (the original plan was for this to be the main quest reward)
  • Changed dialogue mentions from "north beach" to "west beach", which is more accurate. Quintus will also giver better directions, and the finding place has been spruced up a bit with misc junk and bushes, making it more obvious.
  • Removed a lot of misc rumors. The player can now get information from either the dock workers or Stirk's Redguard population. I'm sorry, but I find these abundances of random dialogue rumors to be bad design: they heighten the possibility or errors and inter-plugin conflicts, and increase the chance of personality conflicts (that is, NPCs sounding like completely different people when talking about different things). Also, the engine is already pretty creaky when it has to handle lots of dialogue records, so we should try to minimize impact.
I appreciate your thoroughness when designing quests, but in terms of tone and complexity you should perhaps try to mirror vanilla quests more closely. Most misc. quests manage to do much with only a handful of dialogue entries and quest updates. Tone and presentation are also important: your characters tend a little too much towards the comedy/caricature part of the spectrum.
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