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Letter From a Friend (Monilee's Adventure, Part 11)


gregaaz

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Monilee staggered through the destitute throngs camping outside Whiterun's gates. Some just stared, others mouthed questions. The dragon - is it dead? Are we safe? Monilee had no answers for them. Her full focus was on putting on foot in front of the other on the long path to the Jarl's palace. Silently, the guards opened the gates for her, their eyes gleaming silent questions through their close-faced helms. How had the battle gone? Did it end in victory? Were their friends coming close behind, or lying dead on the plains? 

 

The gates closed behind her with a deep rumble, and Monilee stopped for just a moment to catch her breath. But her chest felt tight, like a weight pressing down on her. Then the rumble started. Slowly at first, then swelling like rolling thunder, until it broke over her with all the power of a rogue wave. Not just a rumble, in fact. It was words that pressed against her.

 

"Doh... Vah... Kiin!"

 

The foreign word hung in the air, and rang in her ears. All around people murmured questions, looking to the east for some sign of the mighty roar's source. Somewhere she heard an old man whisper reverently.

 

"The Graybeards... have spoken."

 

Beyond the obvious, that name meant nothing to Monilee. And with her mind still fogged by her explosive reaction to the dragon's essence, she gave it little thought. All she wanted to do now was tell Balgruuf of their victory and then fall into the nearest bed. So fogged that it took her a moment to fully grasp the oddly dressed woman who stood before her.

 

"You're the dragonborn, right?"

 

If Monilee had been a little more present in the moment, she would have asked how this strange girl knew who she was. Instead she just asked, "What happened to your clothes?"

 

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The girl claimed to have been sent by... Dibella? To deliver a letter? Then she was begging for relief, and Monilee felt a smile creep over her face and then they were on the cobblestones, worshipping Dibella in the oldest, most pure way. And then... with a jingle of bells, the strange girl was gone and Monilee found herself holding a plain scroll tube. Ducking under an awning to escape the rain, she opened the tube and examined the letter. Precise, tightly composed script greeted her with an admonition to not use the power of her voice, on pain of losing her freedom.

 

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So... not literally a letter from Dibella. But still, how did this Mother Hamal know Monilee was the Dragonborn? Surely, in distant Markarth, her Sybil must have learned of this long before Monilee swallowed the dragon's soul. Curious how Monilee was not the only one receiving strange dreams... perhaps this was Dibella's way. But the letter have Monilee more questions than answers. Perhaps it was time for her to journey to Markarth and visit the Temple of Dibella at long last. As she thought through this, she realized that her head had finally cleared. Perhaps that too was a gift - a gift of clarity at the hands of this girl, Cassia.

 

Jarl Balgruuf had different ideas. He told Monilee in no uncertain terms that she must go east, to High Hrothgar at the Throat of the World, not west to Markarth. There is no refusing the summons of the Graybeards, he said. And he provided Monilee with a gift, perhaps to ensure she obeyed. From this day, Monilee was Thane Monilee of Whiterun, a position of great honor, and as such she was granted her own Housecarl to serve and protect her. And more likely than not, to ensure she traveled to High Hrothgar with great dispatch.

 

Indeed, while Lydia professed her oath to protect Monilee and all her posessions - a statement she made with a sidelong glance at the doppelganger, a glance that seemed to harbor a hind of disapproval - she immediately echoed the Jarl's position when Monilee discussed the two paths laid before them. As much as Markarth tugged at her, Monilee saw little option but to make the journey to High Hrothgar first. With the day waning, she took some time to visit the blacksmith and ensure her gear was kept in fighting shape, as well as selling that greatsword she had found in Bleak Falls Barrow. Then the three of them - Monilee, Lydia, and Monilee's doppelganger - retired to the Bannered Mare to rest until the coming of the next day. 

 

They made more proper introductions then, or at least started. Perhaps against better judgment, Monilee tried to flirt a little with Lydia, but was fast rebuffed. Evidently, as a devout follow of Mara, Lydia considered dalliances outside of marriage - to say nothing of between a liege and her vassal - highly inapproriate.

 

"An odd position from all I've seen here in Skyrim," Monilee commented.

 

Lydia shrugged, palms up, "Living in a wicked land doesn't mean we have to lower ourselves to the mean."

 

"That can't be an easy way to live here, and I respect that. Lady Mara once saved my life, you know. I have great esteem for her followers."

 

"Good," said Lydia, "I'm so happy we understand each other. I'm sworn to your service, my Thane, and I want nothing more than to bring honor to your name. But..."

 

"Yes?"

 

"There's one more thing that makes me uncomfortable."

 

"What is it?"

 

Lydia pointed her chin towards the doppelganger. "Your... slave."

 

"My slave."

 

"Yes. I know that the Empire is far away, and things like this are tolerated here. But I feel uncomfortable in the company of, well, a naked woman with a bag on her head. If my Thane would grant me a small favor would... would... would you get her some clothes, please?"

 

Monilee laughed, causing a confused and upset look to flash over Lydia's face.

 

"No, no, I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing at myself. When... when my servant first came into my service, I meant to dress her properly right away. But not long ago, I was laid low by circumstance and lacked even a copper to space. Over time, I think I just got used to the way things were. But you're right, let's dress..."

 

Monilee looked at her doppelganger. "You know, in all our time together, you've never told me your name."

 

The doppelganger leaned back, casually, belying any notion that she was discompoted by her vulnerable state.

 

"Call me what you want. I've had plenty of names, none of them real."

 

"Suggestions, Lydia?"

 

She thought for a moment. "I knew a pretty girl named Shayna when I was young. It's as good a name as any."

 

Monilee nodded. "Agreed, Shayna it is."

 

"Now," Lydia added darkly, "Lets get her some clothes before the market closes." 

 

An hour later, Monilee and Shayna returned. Lydia audibly gasped when Monilee pulled off Shayna's hood. She and her twin laughed heartily at the reaction.

 

"Oh, Lydia, do we have some stories to tell you..."

 

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Test Results

Somewhat shorter session than initially planned because of some troubleshooting required for the issue listed below. 

 

  • Successfully started "Dare to Shout Like a Virgin"
    • This quest proved a little fragile during the part where Cassia speaks to the player. If it started too close to the Whiterun gates, Cassia had a tendency to sandbox across the zone line, which made the sexlab scene fail. This in turn stopped the quest from proceeding. Skyrim required a quit-to-desktop and restart to get her to function properly after that. Fixed by ensuring I was not near any zone transition doors when she spawned. This may be an interaction with Wet & Cold's AI package that causes NPCs to seek shelter when it's raining. 

 

 

Edited by gregaaz

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Cassia does not "Spawn" at the point you meet her. She spawns far far away from you when you enter a zone, and paths to you. You will end up meeting her literally almost anywhere. Like if you had of gone to Riverwood, she'd find you there, maybe inside, maybe outside. So the sexlab failure circumstance is rare, not something I've seen myself with that meeting.

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23 minutes ago, VirginMarie said:

Cassia does not "Spawn" at the point you meet her. She spawns far far away from you when you enter a zone, and paths to you. You will end up meeting her literally almost anywhere. Like if you had of gone to Riverwood, she'd find you there, maybe inside, maybe outside. So the sexlab failure circumstance is rare, not something I've seen myself with that meeting.

 

Interesting, that's not the behavior I experienced. Each time (and I did it about 6 times) she appeared right next to the dragonborn as soon as the Graybeards' scripted shout event played. I checked the record and I see that she is supposed to spawn in the Virgin Holding Cell, but for whatever reason she was entering Tamriel very close to me every time. It might be worth looking at where the holding cell connects to the world to ensure she takes a long enough time to reach the player. (It's worth noting when I was plaing SLaV in LE on many different profiles, that she always spawned in or around the WhiterunOrigin cell and met me around the vicinity of the Whiterun city gate. 

 

As for the sexlab failure - I agree that it's an edge case. Just reporting it for record keeping and tracking purposes for now. 

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Most of SLaVE's NPCs use Skyrim's Story Manager feature. This is the same as the vanilla courier. For me, if I go to Whiterun, she finds me down close to the stables, or part way on the road leading to the main gate. I've never seen her arrive so "late", so it's like you are riding a horse, getting there faster, or COCing into Whiterun. If COCing then I can imagine her spawning in if that's her spawn point too. So perhaps you've found the spawn point, I don't know where it is, just that its in whiterun within the walls.

 

It's not tied to the Greybeards shout. Try going to Riverwood, or any city for that matter. You will see its not connected to graybeards, and not normal to just spawn in next to you.  Also when I go to whiterun, the graybeards sometimes shout when I'm near the stables.

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56 minutes ago, gregaaz said:

I checked the record and I see that she is supposed to spawn in the Virgin Holding Cell,

She is in the holding cell when you first load the game. Story Manager moves her to wherever needed from there.

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1 hour ago, gregaaz said:

It might be worth looking at where the holding cell connects to the world to ensure she takes a long enough time to reach the player.

Holding cell does not connect to the world. For giggles, try COC VirginHoldingCell, this might give you a greater appreciation for what SLaVE is doing :P I dare you.

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8 hours ago, VirginMarie said:

She is in the holding cell when you first load the game. Story Manager moves her to wherever needed from there.

 

Ah gotcha. Well, please see my previous comment. If she is intended to spawn far away from the player, that didn't happen in multiple tests on my current profile and it never happened for me before in LE. Edit for clarity -- in LE she generally met me at the outer gate (so similar to your near the stable case), so if that's your intent it was working fine in LE. As I said, in SSE she consistently spawned in the vicinity of the Whiterun gates. My experiences:

 

  • Call of the Graybeards happened just before entering Whiterun. Immediately afterwards she appeared next to the player and forcegreeted. Conversation proceeded normally, but she sandboxed into Whiterun and the animation failed because the actor was out of range.
  • Reloaded. Cassia did not emerge from gate. Entered Whiterun. Call of the Graybeards happened next to Adrianne's smithy. Cassia immediately appeared next to the player. Forcegreeted, but dialogue failed. 
  • Reloaded. Cassia did not emerge from gate. Enetered Whiterun. Call of the Graybeards happened near Breezehome. Cassia appeared but did not forcegreet.

 

At this point I concluded that "hot loading" was not properly resetting all variables (a known Skyrim issue) and was interfering with the quest's scripted startup behavior. Quit to desktop and reloaded.

 

  • Call of the Graybeards happened just after entering Whiterun. Cassia visibly spawned in front of the player and immediately forcegreeted. Successfully advanced to sex part. Cassia sandboxed into Tamriel and the scene failed.
  • QTD and restart. Waited for Cassia outside the gate. She emerged just after the Call of the Graybeards event. Successful forcegreet and dialogue. Sandboxed back into Whiterun and sexlab scene failed.
  • QTD and restart. Waited for Cassia further away from the gate. She emerged at the same time as last test and successfully forcegreeted. While waiting for sexlab scene to start, she sandboxed a significant distance away from Whiterun (she reached the first concentric outer gate before walking back for Sexlab scene). Sexlab scene completed successfully, letter delivered, quest initiated.

 

8 hours ago, VirginMarie said:

Holding cell does not connect to the world. For giggles, try COC VirginHoldingCell, this might give you a greater appreciation for what SLaVE is doing :P I dare you.

 

LOL I'll have to check it out!

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The quest starts up when you shouted at the tower. From that point on, Skyrim's Engine, Story manager and force greet features, are in control of it all. SLaVE is doing nothing, it's already passed all the info needed for the "courier-like" meet up, and the force greet conditions and dialogue. SLaVE has no role in this until the dialogue next calls a script (in this case, its the call to Sexlab). So everything you are talking about and testing, is vanilla skyrim functionality which if goes wrong, I have no means to touch/fix. other than getting right conditions, kinda like sending the right function call to sexlab. I have no clue where Cassia is gonna spawn, its decided by Story Manager. Maybe there is 2 spawn points in whiterun it could use, maybe just one. If you go to another city, she will not be spawning in Whiterun. 

 

If you are not COCing, and she just pops out of thin air, I do feel that the skyrim engine is not behaving as intended. Makes me think that either you are lagging too much for it to be responsive, or another mod is screwing with story manager. My guess is lag.

 

Note that this Story Manager driven NPC meeting is used a lot in SLaVE, so not just about this first meeting with Cassia.

 

 

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