Because I was getting writer's block on wrapping up the Rumple mod quests, I started to make a new mod as a distraction. This would give me a chance to try two things I hadn't done in a mod before - a permanent companion, actually two of them - and a new worldspace built from scratch.

However, all this has achieved is completion of one quest (the Malandil one) in the first mod, and now I've got stuck in the backstory on the new mod as well, so I currently have a nett loss.

The mod details so far, in my usual "fake wiki" style, are here - warning, demonic nudity!

I just can't decide on whether to make their father a Dark Brotherhood assassin who decided to kill the petitioner instead of the contract victims, or else he rescued them by taking out the DB guy. If it's the latter, then he needs a bit more story of his own. I also need to decide where the Vampire brother of the merchant is hanging out, as well as a plausible reason for his not simply travelling at night, such as being (b)locked in a ruin.

If the father killed the DB assassin, then the merchant has gone to find his brother, and become a vampire too. This is the more satisfying path, but gives the most extra work providing a past for the father. I need to find a reason for his taking up with the two mothers (who we presume were happy together before he arrived) if he wasn't simply sent to kill them. Or rather, their reason for letting him into their existing arrangements, which would most likely have happened before the assassin turned up.

The non-standard three-way relationship (especially involving a very foreign new "beast" race) here is reason enough for them to flee to the island instead of expecting local support. The brother exists to create a lingering threat to the family, (and to keep the quest line going!) even if the DB contract ended with the merchant's death. Tracking him down should provide enough side-quest action for the party, whichever past I go for.

You'll also notice that I haven't mentioned the father's race, because that detail is undecided as well. With TES genetics, the girls are just like their mothers whatever race he was, so I'm putting that decision off until there's a good reason to tie it down.

Votes either way? Suggestions?

Is there a page showing the tunnel to the bottom of the volcano?

These mods you think up are AWESOME !!! I love the storylines and the hard work you put into them!

My thoughts: The mothers could be the offspring of Daedric gods/Princes! That would make Diablita and Angeline grandchildren of Daedric Princes

Dibella, Azura, or Meridia could be Angeline's grandmother.

For Diablita - of course both Nocturnal and Namira are dark - but Namira is known for slaying an ancient vampire, which fits into your story a bit, the slaying of her and all her close kin could have been a revenge motive.

Another possible choice for Diablita's maternal relatives could be Mephala (she is connected to the Dark Brotherhood).

I was intending to leave the mothers' origins mysterious, as that save me a lot of work in the mod-making. The father is a necessary piece of the storyline I can't avoid entirely, although I may never decide on his race if it doesn't affect anything.

The tunnel entrance is underwater (which is why you need the Argonians to show the player where it is) so it doesn't make a good screenshot. Most of the tunnel is submerged, with only the end chamber above sea level.

Those speculations may be useful for the back-story even if I don't confirm them. If the people on the mainland thought they were Daedra (and Diablita is red like Dagon, and has Dremora's horns, so there's a resemblance), then their attitudes would definitely have been adverse during the Oblivion Crisis. However the DB contract was purely a commercial rivalry getting out of hand - I already put that into S'shira's dialog.

May as well add some screenshots to help inspire

View from the beach (inland)

View from the beach (of the bay)

Path to the crater house

Which isn't there any more

Parents' graves

View from the graves

The bay is supposed to be the caldera of the original volcano, with the second cone being the one the house was built in. There are a couple more cones as separate islands further out to sea behind the second cone. You can swim to those, but you can't climb up the steep sides. No trees (apart from one small dogwood) on the island. All timber comes from wrecks.

All right. I like the idea that Jak'l is the Silencer. He went on his assignment and discovered that his targets were exactly as the note said, unlike anyone he’d killed before. Since they were both dangerous witches, they were able to overpower him. Of course they didn’t kill him right away, they needed to find out the identity of the petitioner so they could kill him. I’m not clear on how Jak’l would know.

In the course of the interrogation, Jak’l became intrigued, finding the couple as unusual in behavior as they were in appearance. They made a deal with him to track down and kill the merchant/petitioner if they let him go free. Maybe Jak’l had grown disillusioned with his DB family, but couldn’t think of a way out. Two powerful Infernal and Angelic mages could hide him at their secret volcano island. Which looks awesome, btw. Also they realize that Jak’l can give them something that they have never had before, and could never have on their own. Yep, little angel and devil babies.

I’m a little hazy about the merchant’s vampire brother. I think I missed something.

I’m fine not knowing where the new races came from, their names and appearances put them in the category of playful rather than lore-plausible for me.

Oh, it would be fun to reclaim the island for the sisters. Find a new well, build a vacation cottage, figure out exactly where Diabla wore her rings.

I’m working on Plan B, Jak’l killed the Silencer. Hmm.


ETA: Aha! Vampire brother is in the journal entries. Still thinking.

I like the idea that Jak'l might have been hired by the two witches with that in mind. With the technology of the day, they've got to get it fresh, not bottled. Repeat until successful. I'm sure the two of them will have fulfilled (and surpassed) most of his fantasies, so maybe they all got to like the new arrangement. "He's good! I think we'll keep him." Then the DB tries to spoil it all. They'd all gang up to prevent that, so I think they ALL kill the Silencer in concert in this scenario.

They have the unresolved issue of who wants them dead, (and that's true whoever was the Silencer). That was the reason for the merchant's brother idea. He's the remaining threat if I take the "Silencer kills merchant" option. If the merchant survives, then he's still a threat without him, but I placed the merchant in Senchal, so he needs a representative in Cyrodiil. Making him a Vampire was just part of making him hard to find, as a full Vampire would avoid being seen. Plus I haven't had vampies in a quest for a while, so it's their turn.

The original rivalry between merchants was over an artifact that the petitioner merchant stole from the hot moms, then hired the DB to kill them so they could never take it back. The artifact is… something really cool. Of course Jak’l and the hot moms killed the merchant, then they couldn’t find the darn thing. The only clue to its location was that, uh, it had been hidden. No wait, they found a note that the merchant brother hadn’t sent yet:


Dear Dunmer Brother,

Why haven’t you returned from hiding that Really Cool Thing for me? I’m getting worried. I’ve heard there are a lot of vampires around there. Also there is a rumor about a rockslide. And I saw a mudcrab the other day. Please call me on the crystal ball at your earliest convenience.

Love,

Your Merchant Brother


Jak’l and the moms had to flee the DB and go to their island before they had a chance to look for their RCT.

The merchant’s Dunmer brother has been trapped somewhere for years, and he just found his way out. He heard about the unusual ladies who are accompanying the PC, and thought they must be connected to the hot moms and the RCT that he hid for his merchant brother. During which adventure he became a vampire and was trapped by a rockslide. He has gone mad from drinking the blood of rats and spiders, or some other creature that can only be found in some certain area. We know this because he goes on a rant to the sisters before he tries to kill them, so that they can’t get the RCT that he now possesses. Also he is ticked that their hot moms killed his merchant brother.

So the girls think, I wonder what the RCT is? Would our hot moms want us to have it? Where could it be? Probably somewhere with vampires, rockslides, and whatever critter the merchant’s vampire Dunmer brother kept himself alive by drinking.

I like your Plan B.




ETA: All right, since the merchant is in Senchal, let’s say his vampire brother had a place in Cyrodiil. He’s carrying a key to his house/room on him when he attacks the sisters. When they go check out his house for clues, they find a bunch of cobwebs since he has been trapped in a cave for years, plus they find the letter from his merchant brother in Senchal. It was delivered, but he never got it since he was trapped in a cave.

There could be more clues, like a coded map that the vampire made so he could find his way back. He’s worried about getting back to the RCT that he left where he hid it. He made a map because he suspects that he is losing his mind.

If the vampire brother’s place is nice, maybe the PC could get it for himself to share with the sisters for the price of back taxes, paid at the castle.

Such an RCT needs to be something that he wouldn't just use himself, and your post contains a possible answer. If we have a Dunmer version of Glarthir for a merchant, then the RCT could be a Crystal Ball that he thinks reveals everything about HIM. He looks into it, he sees himself reflected. He's paranoid, so he's convinced they're using it to spy on him. Only him. Nobody else is that interesting, of course. The ball's actually nothing special, but he thinks it is, and that's what counts!

He tries to smash it, it just bounces (the only magic it has serves to hold it together). He has to send it away. He asks his brother to drop it into the lava in one of the Oblivion planes, since all those gates opened up in Cyrodiil. The brother's not going anywhere near those, but he'll take the thing and tell him he did. He gets jumped by vampires in the first cave he finds to drop it in.

I like the Crystal Ball much more than an artifact that would actually be useful. The sisters would want it for sentimental reasons. That way the player embarks on the quest to find it with no expectation of real reward other than the sisters’ increased affection.

I am thoroughly intrigued by the link you posted on Grits' story about Falanu's family tree and her sister's ... experiments. Would you mind if my story included some of those interesting facts about Falanu's background and her sister being at that fort?

Her sister's experiments would also explain why what was in those vials in the "All Things Alchemical" shop were so explosive - that WIKI page said it had to be carefully handled and over low flames only to keep from that exact thing happening - let me know if you are against me writing your mod characters and their history into my story.

Your imagination with these story lines is amazing !!! I'll bet you are a ball of fun to know IRL, lol !!!!

The cross-overs here have been some of the most fun in the stories, so go ahead.

Thank you !!! By the way, I was going to ask in my earlier comment and just noticed I forgot to - can those graves of the parents be activated ? (and if so, what happens?)

When the cross-hairs are pointed at them they show who's buried where. No activate process.

Ok. I was picturing a message (from beyond the grave) for the sisters, lol.

That could happen, but it would be later in the quest.

I also don't want the sisters' quest to take over from the rest of the game. It's mainly intended as a companion mod, with the extra feature of banter between the sisters, so I want the quest to unfold slowly and make you do other things in between stages.

That sounds really interesting! I have only recently downloaded Vilja and started her quests - I really liked the slower progression that the player could set the pace of how fast her quests were accomplished. Will you be using voice files for the banter?

Voice acting would be nice eventually, but I'll need to find two female voices once I have all the dialog written. I can't even do one!

The nice thing here is that neither voice needs to be similar to any existing voice. Angeline may be based on the Breton but she has a separate race just for the companion mechanics, and Diablita is obviously not a standard race. There's very little dialog for anyone but the sisters, and that can be left silent, or in the case of the Argonians on the Island, I may even be able to edit that from existing voice files.

I'm also using Vilja as a model for this, and it works well to have the companion with a distinct voice, especially where it's not always face-to-face dialog. You can easily tell when it's Vilja talking, because you can recognize Emma's voice.

You sure can recognize Emma's voice, lol. I think if she was talking anywhere in the world I would spin around and say, "Hey, you must be Emma!" Lol.

I have been very aggravated for a long time about how silent my character was in a world of talking NPC's. What fascinates me most about Vilja is her ability to chat as she walked around with the player.

The idea of being able to even just bring up gossip with the NPC's, (even if it is as banal as "I saw a mud crab the other day..." or "Have you heard anything from the other Provinces?" etc.) or walk alongside your companions and make the occasional comment or observation has been something I've wanted for a long time.

It may be considered a boring mod to most, but I would love something like that to add to the immersion. I have downloaded some of the available "Player Voice" mods (and finally got them working - YEAH !!) - And am absolutely LOVING the difference in just being able to hear her say something every now and then.

I just upgraded Arthmoor's Open Cities Reborn to it's latest 1.0.1 release because I needed to find out if the Skingrad changes had affected the Gweden Brothel quest there. I discovered that he's added another All Things Alchemical to Cheydinhal, with a couple of Hlaalu's running it. I haven't got anything from talking to them about their relationship with Falanu but I assume the use of the ATA name means relatives.

Vilja adds Heneri and Sereni Hlaalu (Falanu's mother and aunt) as well as a skull that used to be Heneri's husband. My game is getting saturated with Hlaalu family members!

Lol, sounds like it. All of Falanu's relatives seem to have their quirks in all the mods, lol. Still, I liked your "sister" best, she is perfect. Not just being there in the original shop/nearby fort, but her weird experiments with animals and that experimental (and combustable) potion, lol. She is so perfect for a cameo spot over that shop exploding !!

I will send you a preview draft for your approval before I post anything (of course), and give you credit for the loan of your character at the top of the page like I do for Foxy, Treydog, Rachel the Breton, and Rumpleteasza. Thank you so much !!! (And thanks for having such a fertile, creative imagination! Love it !!!)

A bit of thread necromancy because I've made a bit of mod progress. I'm not sure how I'm going to connect to to their story, but I have a shrine to the parents that will get built after something important justifies it. It replaces the simple gravestones erected earlier.

Shrine

Most of the current effort is going into scripting the "random" comments that the two make to the player, and each other, as you wander around Tamriel. They need to be aware of location, enemies, quests etc. as well as whether the other sister is waiting somewhere else.

I've also added bunk beds to Rosethorn Hall, so now they can sleep comfortably at either Chorrol or Skingrad. The other homes are a bit cozy for three, so I may have problems with those.

Glad you're making progress. That modding stuff is a lot of work!

The shrine looks great! I guess a portable bedroll on the floor of the smaller houses would always leave someone pouty. Congrats on the progress.

I love the shrine. Very nice.

If you haven't already, you should check out companion Vilja. She makes comments based on location as well so her script could be helpful if you are having issues.

Holy thread necromancy Batman!

I just added a bit more to the mod, and thought I'd get an opinion here. Since I didn't really want the father, Jak'l, to be the Silencer, I had the idea that the merchant's brother was the DB member. When he gets the contract, he just knows it's his crazy paranoid brother behind it, and decides to end the idiocy by offing his own kin. He tells the sisters to get out of town, in case he fails and someone else takes over the hit. He's already a vampire at this stage, having caught the disease while dropping off Diabla's Crystal Ball (and Angela's Hourglass, just for symmetry) at an Ayleid Ruin - I chose Nornalhorst as a decent-sized one that doesn't have an existing quest. His vampirism is one reason for feeling less connected to his brother, the other is the increasing insanity. Combined, he'll be better off without him.

The glassware items were enchanted with a shield spell to make them unbreakable, because clumsy Diabla kept dropping glass objects. That made the merchant doubly sure that they were extra-powerful magic spy devices aimed at him. In reality, a Crystal ball with an enchantment on it already would be hard to enchant again.

My take on how Crystal Balls work as spy devices is that you'd take the ball to the location you want to "bug", cast a spell, and the reflection seen in the ball would "stick". You could then take the ball elsewhere, but you'd continue to see in what was going on at the point where you cast the spell. The "detect life" spell actually detects the magicka associated with life, so it will reveal the ghost image of a crystal ball at the bugged location when such a spell is in effect. The merchant has seen that in his shop, so he assumes he's bugged.

When he looks into the ball at the mothers' shop he sees himself. It's not enchanted at all, but he assumes they know a more powerful version of the spying spell than he does, and theirs can track a person. He doesn't have to be logical here, just paranoid. The shield spell reinforces his fears, as much as it does the glassware.

So what's the reality of the "detect life" ghost orb in his shop? I'm thinking maybe he demonstrated a ball he sold himself, and forgot to dispel the enchantment before the customer left, or he assumed they'd be setting a new target, and they didn't. Do I even need this kind of detail?

The Vampire brother of the merchant has retired from the DB after killing his sibling, and went back to live in Nornalhorst, because he's still a vampire. You can talk to him there, and find that the Ball and Hourglass are still lying around somewhere - actually behind a secret wall I added - so the sisters can take keepsakes home to their rooms at Arborwatch.

You find him because S'shani recalls that the merchant had dealings with Dar Jee, the fence in Leyawiin, presumably taking the stolen goods out of Cyrodiil. This part is triggered by a stage of the quest to build the shrine to the parents, and takes the form of a note given to you when you next visit your Waterfront shack.

Dar Jee remembers the brothers, and gives you names (Arvin and Slythe Dereleth - Arvin being the merchant) as well as naming Nornalhorst as where Slythe caught his Vampirism. Dar Jee doesn't know anything about the events in Senchal, of course.

I'm leaving Jak'l as a mystery. Slythe doesn't know if there was any hit contract for him, but he advised him to go with the girls' mothers, in case there was. Sithis would be satisfied with his brother's death in place of the mothers, but he would still be in danger. None of the dialog mentions his race or background, so I can add that later. Or not!

I'm undecided whether to expand this a little by adding a sub-quest to help Slythe cure his vampirism. It would have to be consistent with the quest for curing the player, so maybe involve the witch at Drakelowe again?

I think the idea of a shield spell for glassware is cute as can be. My character quit carrying alchemy gear around for the very reason that it is too fragile.

I also like the creative potential that can be crafted into the concept of the crystal ball, be it for communication as Grits has used them for or for the bugging devices you mention here. I’ve also heard of them being used as a medium for a character to stay in touch with their ‘player/mentor’.

Once again you have floored me with your inventive imagination !! What a great idea for a use of all those crystal balls in the game - only the spell would have to be hard to come by - maybe a quest to get that spell. Awesome ideas you have Ghastley!

If the cure for vampirism will take you down the same route as the vanilla game, why do it? I'd make some other way (possibly more like the DLC Vile Lair did).

You could still use the idea and title of Glenmoril witch to keep the Lore, but since the one in game (Melisande) is already glitching her vanilla quest - why not make a different Glenmoril Witch for the mod? (like build a cave somewhere near Drakelowe and have it be a coven sister of Melisande).

So what's the reality of the "detect life" ghost orb in his shop? I'm thinking maybe he demonstrated a ball he sold himself, and forgot to dispel the enchantment before the customer left, or he assumed they'd be setting a new target, and they didn't.

Sure, if this detail even comes out in the story. Or maybe someone else is tracking him. Just because he’s paranoid doesn’t mean he’s always wrong.

I’ve never done the cure for vampirism thing, but I would be fine with a completely different option than the game already offers if you wanted to do that. After all, some (PS3 players like myself) don’t believe that a cure even exists.

I believe Hassildor says that she's the only one left. He could be wrong, of course. Anyway, isn't she patched to work OK on the PC (where I'm mod-making).

The other quest-extending thing I'm considering is having some creatures hold up the construction of the shrine, so our team has to go clear them out. The problem is that it's an isolated island, so the creatures would have to teleport, fly or hitch a ride on a ship. Imps maybe?

Mud crab invasion. Can you make them really big?

I'm taking a break from the Red Dragon Club while I think up a few more quests, and picking this one up again.

Giant mud crabs it is. Five of them, three times their normal size (i.e scale 1.5, as normal is 0.5). The thing that is taking me the most time is making a half-complete shrine, with all the mason's clutter and uncut stone etc.

I think I'll have the work crew hide in the Argonian's wreck to escape the crabs. I can't have the Serpent's Wake stay at the Island, because I can't disable it at Anvil without major conflicts with Open Cities Reborn. So it only sails when the player is on board (or away from Anvil, so it can do the whole round trip). That means Varulae has to be able to communicate with the workmen to know when they want to return. Good thing I got her Crystal Ball back!

I may also try to add a friendly wraith (Jak'l's ghost?) helping with the mud crab problem. It won't be able to communicate with the player or sisters directly, but I'm getting a few thoughts about it pointing to a clue.

The giant mudcrab invasion is a great idea!

Giant mudcrabs, tremendous!! A friendly ghost would add even more fun. I have to go back and look at this one again, I remember that I really liked it.

Just a couple of quick screenshots.

The half-built shrine when the crabs put a temporary halt to construction.

A mud-crab of each size. I'd just killed the large one, and was about to take a screenshot, when the girls came rushing in and killed the little one, who'd just come around the rock. Then they saw I was going to take a picture, and stayed.

I can certainly see why mudcrabs that size would disrupt construction out on the island!

ROFL !! That had me spewing hot cocoa on my keyboard !!! ROFL !!!

Great pictures! The girls look so proud of themselves. I love the private island with a shipwreck setting.