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Noodling thoughts on a story


karlpaws

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First off, there won't be any pictures in this, as it is primarily notes on a playthrough planned for story screenshots.  I wanted to note down some ideas before they got lost and solicit any other ideas.

 

Story would go like this: high elf male, former member of the Summerset Shadows disillusioned by Linwe's "grand new idea" of graverobbing for fun and profit (little profit and even less fun) heads south to Riften to find out what is really going on with the Thieves' Guild.  Side quests to pick up for later would include the ore sample trip (pretend that speaking with Flinjar has him mention he has an ore sample when the quest is normally given by Halfjorg, making it a delivery instead of fetch quest) and Dravin's bow from his farm outside the city, as Our Hero stops to find out any information about the city and instead gets a diatribe about the thieves (oh, tell me more) and hints about the Ratway.

 

Also of note, Our Hero would run into Wujeeta begging for a healing potion.  Storywise I wanted to use that as a way to get past the guard demanding a toll ("I'm here with info on the skooma trade, I need to speak to the jarl.  I can make sure she knows you sent me...") - but any other dialog ideas would be welcome.

 

Get / turn in the quest for the ore sample, possibly run into Ingun and make a note of her for later, especially following Maul's comments about the family. Our Hero would know of the family already since their name is on every third bottle of mead in the whole country. Their reach and wealth would be obvious (and will play in later).

 

Swing by the Bee and Barb to listen to rumors (story wise at least, and as an excuse to run into Louis and get his job "Oh, another Black-briar for me to curry favor...") and also deal with Sapphire. Since she doesn't have any options for revealing any info about the thieves guild, we form no opinion of her related to the guild as a whole but find her ploy to loan money, steal the shipment and then still demand money from someone who will never be able to pay a little short sighted.  If you like hurting otherwise innocent people just for fun, it makes sense, but thieves are not, generally, sadists and Our Hero isn't either. So that sets up the first sex shot, playing up her inventiveness in the scheme, rewarding her with some elven dicking, and maybe making a promise that "when Shadr owes you, you can pass on that favor to her in the future."

 

Do the skooma quest and get favor with the jarl and a pile of coin. Check in with Wujeeta (because having commoners as friends means having willing informants, which any good thief wants) and get Svana's quest.  Picking rich people's pockets is something Our Hero would be doing anyway and in theory could have already done.  Wouldn't be much value in the tokens otherwise but to curry favor with someone else, and having blackmail material on someone who expresses no interest in you is another bonus.

 

Do Sibbi's quest and turn over the horse, getting some more coin, favor with a Black Briar and also getting his quest to track down Svidi. Story-talk with Svana, play the usual lines about her being in love with Sibbi, and story break her of the idea that he loves her.  Not sure about making up or looking up what the two women would know about or feel about each other.  Find Svidi in Ivarstead, get her side of the story, and story-realize Sibbi is still useful, though quite a jerk.  Return to him and lie, since he will not know but still reward Our Hero and look on him favorably.

 

At this point, maybe do a couple other quests or dungeon loots, getting to the 5 favor quests and money needed to buy and funish Honeyside.  I was thinking that story wise, housecarl could somewhat work as a steward, but also "steal" Svana (I would be using the mod Manipulator) with a seduction story about giving her a new home in exchange for doing some cooking and cleaning... and now that her eyes have really been opened, get her used to sex.

 

Setup done, Brynjolf approaches Our Hero with his "you've got a lot of money and no apparent means of income" spiel, because we've been so busy we kinda forgot about Dravin's lost bow. Now, storywise, Our Hero kinda likes Brand-shei, giving him credit for making a little something of himself in an unfavorable place. So, going with the Taking Care of Business mod, he gets a note instead of a trip to jail (since Maven hasn't been mentioned, Our Hero doesn't know its her favor he could get, and that makes the choice in favor of a friend easier).  Story dialog possibility: Brynjolf wants to frame Brand-Shei "well, he's a friend and I don't want to send him to jail without a good reason.  You want a demonstration of my skills? I can plant a note in his pocket, you can watch me, and he still gets the message."

 

Mission successful, and somewhat distrustful of this snake oil salesman who is peddling over priced miracles and also is responsible for the clumsy "toll" at the gates, Our Hero decides to see what kind of "organization" he represents, since it probably is the not so vaunted Thieves' Guild people all over town stay skulk down in the Ratway.  Our Hero has, as this point, somewhat lost interest since he has a good start on his own fortune without the guild's help.  Thane status though means either he will be protected somewhat from the guards should everything go wrong or mean he can bring the guards in to clear out the place if the rumors of Maven's involvement and Maul's proclamations are wrong.

 

The two idiots that stop Our Hero are easy to intimidate, when the guy holding the bow (in close quarters... not effective) is blocking the guy with the melee weapon.   Not sure how, but would try to get a screenshot of that.

 

In the Ragged Flagon, get a measure of the people, and the shakedown the shopkeepers quest.  Here is where there could be several possible forks.

 

Haelga could be an easy pushover since Our Hero has already had an altercation with her. There is the vanilla threaten option to represent blackmail, the Sexlab option of "you pay me, we quote unquote worship Dibella and I cover for you" or an alternate vanilla option of "I'm your new thane, and protection taxes come to me now. On the other hand I'm more competent, so you know you will be "protected" when you pay me and anyone that crosses me will end up like Sarthis.

 

Bersi I don't know - there is still the vanilla threaten option with the Sarthis "protection taxes" line. Maybe using that just on him and using the blackmail line for Haelga would be the best option.  Another line could be "Well, have you met Dirge?" or "Well, you can deal with me or these two thugs that would like to join the guild.  I cannot guarantee they wouldn't break everything or burn your shop down... there is a reason they haven't gotten into the guild, but if the guild's getting desperate, maybe they've got a chance..."  There could be an even darker option of mentioning "Drifa looks nice and the thugs might agree with you."

 

Keerava and Talen would need another option I think.  At this point Our Hero should have enough gems to fill Talen's quest and maybe "selling" him the gems would be enough. A "hope Maven doesn't get angry and raise prices more" probably wouldn't work, but "Brynjolf isn't walking off a short pier, I am" kind of response could work? While the game will just give you an automatic success on the third person, I want story shots for each.

 

Next up is the "thrown in the deep end" feeling quest to hit the bee farm.  Story wise, Vex' failure could be that she is better with locks than shadows and just did not expect the extra guards and was caught unawares. Our Hero, having skulked through plenty of places might be a little short in the locks department but good enough with sneaking.  Being able to buy training or have skilled Alteration high enough to get an Open Expert Lock spell via the Useful Alteration mod could give two story based ways through.   Then Our Hero finds out that Maven is behind things and gives the next mission now that he has proved competent.

 

I was thinking the Honingbrew mission would be done in the vanilla style, since I wasn't considering Our Hero to be overly principled he won't have that many hangups about framing a guy. Especially since Sabjorn isn't all that standup, loaning money to a lackey he knows cannot pay him back and using him like slave labor. Lackey isn't any good either but I guess that's all Maven could get at the time.  On top of that Sabjorn might not know who is giving him the silent investment or that she's working counter to the Thieves' Guild and also swipes at Maven via the bee farm purchase, but that's just business to Our Hero. Sab the Sap really should have asked.  He isn't like Gulum-Ei, where "in our line of business we don't ask questions."

 

So, mixed success reported to Maven, proof of competence which seems to be all she wants, and a little more wealth in the form of a trinket to sell to Delvin. Our Hero is finding out more about the guild, that it seems full of the has beens and won't be's, but the truth is yet to be revealed.  I would probably play the Solitude mission straight, without side quests and distractions since there would be a bit of legitimate urgency, trying to track down the source of the guild's troubles before the trail goes colder.

 

Haven't really thought too much past that, since the story is pretty straight forward but there would probably be a few bits that would either give opportunity for added (made up) detail.  I was planning to do the main quest through and wait for the aftermath to do the quests from Vex and Delvin as a way to "rebuild the treasury" after it was looted. 

 

Our Hero's cover of Thane and secret buyer of Goldenglow (how much the citizens in the city would know, I am not sure, but expect it might be quiet.  Maven would not want the disruption known as it could cause problems for the brewery's business and make negotiations to buy more honey harder and more expensive) as Honeyside owner and Thane owning the honey producing Goldenglow being "leaked" would mask his Thieves' Guildmaster wealth plus provide more direct cover than Maven would.  If she had a problem with the guild, a supplier/merchant rivalry could be used as the excuse, especially when she was (at the time of the game starting) claiming to the jarl that the thieves were all gone (as part of her cover for them).

 

 

 

 

 

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