quest The Trappings of Fate

[NorthernBear]

Spoiler

Does anyone know what is the last staff you need to use for the Vault puzzle?

 

Edit:

Does anyone know the full order? I cannot figure it out

 

Edited March 19, 2024 by NorthernBear

[Zaflis]

5 hours ago, sorrowsmith said:

 

  Hide contents

Yes, it does NOW.... but after you've cleansed first shrine (gloomy ruin maze) and had fun time with Irkalla, it will be available. You will need an item from the smithing room (behind that master locked door) to activate the second shrine.  The key for that door is found in Irkalla's quarters iirc.

As i said i still need to find that first altar or whatever entrance to some maze. But that's easier said than done and i haven't seen any useful tips given for that. Not tips i'm really hoping for more screenshots here.

Spoiler

Well, few hints i may have read about "earth sings" or "take a last look at the sky". That's basically almost the whole cave, and earth sings is likely some sound of water but i have followed rivers etc. and climbed all the places.

 

Edited March 19, 2024 by Zaflis

[qawsedrftg765]

Hi some feedback on the second quest. I am at the 50% part

I will quickly state I think both quests in this mod are incredible and are some of the most innovative quests in skyrim, peroid. I don't think I have ever seen the item you are moving used as part of quest before, nor asking you to move to specific spots from audio queues.

Now for the issues I have experienced so far as well as some bugs

 

Possible Gameplay Issues:

 

After finding the Azura Tuning fork I was unable to get the 'rock' to disappear. I tried moving to the places shown previously by other uses and just no luck. Eventually i disabled collision and went through the rock then it disappeared. I am fairly certain I was in the correct spot where you can hear whispers and screams, I am willing to accept I might be wrong.

Then my second issue happened after. I tried equipping myself with every device I could think of to get through the maze. But I always got sent back right to the start the second I touched the ooze. Again I am willing to accept I might have missed something, but this is the first time since I started your mod that I felt 'lost'. After that the event right after you get to the shrine worked well.

When I made my way to walker the first time I sort of 'parkour' up the rocks next to the main mushroom. Not sure if this is meant to be the way, there is another path all the way around so I assume that is the intended way and mine is the 'it just works' way.

 

When making the potion in the alchemy lab initially I only needed the 4th note to figure out what to do. So I found notes 1 and 4 and then wanted to make the potion but I needed to find notes 2 and 3 before I could. Feels a bit gamey.

You get 1 LOCKPICK to pick an expert lock after being on the X for the 3rd time and if it breaks u are pretty boned.

 

The first time you are on the X i thought that there must be a combo of struggles to get out. It was kind of annoying that after just finishing the first part where there is always a way out there is no indication that you have to 'give up' to progress. Perhaps after struggling 3ish times you get forced to 'give up'
 

Bugs:

 

The top floor of the mushroom has a bar on the door that should prevent entry from outside initially. It did not for me

 

After being put on the X for the 3rd time after the dialog box that reads similar to "please let me come" nothing happened. I saved and reloaded twice to get this dialog to do anything but it did not trigger. Other dialog options seemed to work correctly.
 

The handcuffs in the room with the first X fell behind the table and I had to go looking really hard to find them. Given how the other objects are so nearly arragned I think this is a bug

 

[qawsedrftg765]

I am now on the "Trial of the Toy" and I am unsure of how to continue
 

 

 

No matter how I try and disobey I always fail

I have
Only taken off barmaid dress

Put 0 devices on
I sat on the throne for many minutes but this didnt seem to do anything

Manipulate locks on a piece of bondage furniture

Cum too many or too few times and lied about it
 

 

Edited March 20, 2024 by qawsedrftg765

[sorrowsmith]

16 hours ago, Zaflis said:

As i said i still need to find that first altar or whatever entrance to some maze. But that's easier said than done and i haven't seen any useful tips given for that. Not tips i'm really hoping for more screenshots here.

  Hide contents

Well, few hints i may have read about "earth sings" or "take a last look at the sky". That's basically almost the whole cave, and earth sings is likely some sound of water but i have followed rivers etc. and climbed all the places.

 

 

Spoiler

when you leave the alchemy lab area and enter the fungal cave,  the big mushroom is ahead and there's a stone stair on the right. Go down that and along the path and you come to two low wooden bridges. Cross the first one and turn right, then walk to the cave wall. You will be very close to the entrance to the gloomy ruin; the stone at the entrance looks different than surrounding area. 

 

To enter,  I put my back to the wall, look up at the patch of sky that's visible, and back up. That bit is a little tricky but with a little trial and error it works. You can tcl through the wall as well, just to be sure you're in the right spot  there will be a door, which is not locked, beyond that door is a stone tablet and a magically warded door.  I clicked the edge of the warded door to enter the maze, NOT the green glowy circle.  Before going in there, read the stone tablet, which gives clues as to what gear you will want to wear while in the maze. You can enter the maze wearing nothing at all, but I don't advise that.  Second spoiler below will elaborate on gear to wear.

 

Explore the whole maze and you will find the first shrine, as well as three word walls.  Cleanse the shrine, talk to Azura, collect three word walls for a shout you'll use in a couple places later on if you didn't get those while exploring.

 

Spoiler

IN the gloomy ruin maze, you will want to wear earplugs and a blindfold; you will also want to wear the crimson catsuit, which allows you to open gates in the maze. When you get to Azura's shrine, you will want to add a gag and chastity belt to the other gear, as cleansing the shrine means avoiding getting tentacle raped. 

 

Spoiler

 

Edited March 20, 2024 by sorrowsmith

[Allen Harris]

5 hours ago, qawsedrftg765 said:

I am now on the "Trial of the Toy" and I am unsure of how to continue
 

  Hide contents

 

No matter how I try and disobey I always fail

I have
Only taken off barmaid dress

Put 0 devices on
I sat on the throne for many minutes but this didnt seem to do anything

Manipulate locks on a piece of bondage furniture

Cum too many or too few times and lied about it
 

 

Spoiler

It doesn't matter if you win or lose the orgasm game. There are 2 thing on that floor, very close to where you talked to Irkalla, that you need to interact with or pick up.  One of them is hidden pretty well in the room where you pick out bondage items to wear for the orgasm game.

 

[860513]

I tried version 2.0.1 once with an existing save before meeting the courier outcome is Bed being removed and not activation prompt. if i setstage no devious devices equipped.
then a fresh save and it has the same outcome except the bed stays in the room.
 

[johan860915]

Ran into a problem where

Spoiler

I placed the sword on boethiah’s alter, talked to her the she told me to go through the gates for trial.

I walked through the gates, my clothes changed but that’s it. Nothing happening, no new quest popping up or teleport to a new area. 
it’s supposed to start trial of toys but it didn’t. I tried to checked with console command and it show the quest running at stage 0

 

[Allen Harris]

2 hours ago, 860513 said:

I tried version 2.0.1 once with an existing save before meeting the courier outcome is Bed being removed and not activation prompt. if i setstage no devious devices equipped.
then a fresh save and it has the same outcome except the bed stays in the room.
 

I had that issue in the first beta release; I had to start a whole new game but that worked

[qawsedrftg765]

On 3/20/2024 at 8:30 PM, Allen Harris said:

  Hide contents

It doesn't matter if you win or lose the orgasm game. There are 2 thing on that floor, very close to where you talked to Irkalla, that you need to interact with or pick up.  One of them is hidden pretty well in the room where you pick out bondage items to wear for the orgasm game.

 

Thanks for the help

 

I really think that is not an intuitive way to do the quest. The narrative all about resisting and instead of 'resisting' you just poison her.

[masterofgamespl]

Hey I can't really escape the alchemy area. I found alchemical notes 4 and 1, but I can't craft anything useful (I assume in cooking pot). What am I missing? Are there more alchemical notes, since I can't find them anywhere?

[Zaflis]

24 minutes ago, masterofgamespl said:

Hey I can't really escape the alchemy area. I found alchemical notes 4 and 1, but I can't craft anything useful (I assume in cooking pot). What am I missing? Are there more alchemical notes, since I can't find them anywhere?

 

Spoiler

There's 4 notes. After you have them it will unlock new cooking recipe. Check all hidden spots, mainly on the floor or maybe next to something. I only found them once so i don't have fresh memory on where they were. I guess mainly the alchemy or the ingredient room.

 

[sorrowsmith]

6 hours ago, masterofgamespl said:

Hey I can't really escape the alchemy area. I found alchemical notes 4 and 1, but I can't craft anything useful (I assume in cooking pot). What am I missing? Are there more alchemical notes, since I can't find them anywhere?

 

Spoiler

All in the alchemy area, which includes the space where various ingredients are growing... look behind things and inside things 

 

[ftj]

On 3/20/2024 at 9:46 PM, johan860915 said:

Ran into a problem where

  Hide contents

I placed the sword on boethiah’s alter, talked to her the she told me to go through the gates for trial.

I walked through the gates, my clothes changed but that’s it. Nothing happening, no new quest popping up or teleport to a new area. 
it’s supposed to start trial of toys but it didn’t. I tried to checked with console command and it show the quest running at stage 0

 

Well i had the same issue, and i reinstalled the mod and started with a clean save (replayed the first quest), then its ok

[Allen Harris]

13 hours ago, qawsedrftg765 said:

Thanks for the help

 

 

  Hide contents

 

 

I really think that is not an intuitive way to do the quest. The narrative all about resisting and instead of 'resisting' you just poison her.
 

 

 

I know that Frayed took some of those particular criticism to heart and has done some work in the last release to make some things clearer, but I don't know if he did that one specifically. But, yeh, I agree - it took me like an hour or two to figure it out lol

[masterofgamespl]

I have a question about mephala riddle. Basically I'm at the point where you need to use the staffes in the correct order to open the door. I did that but the door are still closed (with some magic on it). Also I'm supposed to find some note in this cave (on some table?) but there's no table and no note. 

I should also mention that after clipping through the door I couldn't pick up the gem.

 

Edit: After reseting the game and doing the puzzle in correct order, it worked, but I still can't pick up the gem for some reason.

Another Edit: So I dug up here on the forum, and it turns out I should talk to Mephala here, but she didn't show. There's a gem I can't pick up, a shrine that just gives me a blessing, after tfcing i see some big spider hole above, but it's empty, and Mephala is nowwhere to be seen.

Edited March 22, 2024 by masterofgamespl

[Allen Harris]

16 minutes ago, masterofgamespl said:

I have a question about mephala riddle. Basically I'm at the point where you need to use the staffes in the correct order to open the door. I did that but the door are still closed (with some magic on it). Also I'm supposed to find some note in this cave (on some table?) but there's no table and no note. 

Yeh I never could figure out the order and ended up clipping through 

[petterparker]

I don't remember how I finished "A snare to loosen". But I think I chose "I don't have time for this right now" or something similar.
So I continued free in Skyrim thinking that another invitation letter would arrive for the second part of the mod... however, several days of the game had passed and no messenger ever arrived.
My question is if I have to complete some type of requirement to be able to start "The Gordian Bind"... (level up or something similar) or do I no longer have the possibility to start "The Gordian Bind"?

[860513]

On 3/20/2024 at 6:59 PM, 860513 said:

I tried version 2.0.1 once with an existing save before meeting the courier outcome is Bed being removed and not activation prompt. if i setstage no devious devices equipped.
then a fresh save and it has the same outcome except the bed stays in the room.
 

Apparently the mod that caused these troubles for me was Devious devices NG.
after disabling alot of mods i eventually came to this one and after disabling this mod it fixed the devices not being equipped issue for me.
Edit : After upgrading NG to the newest version that resolved all the problems for me and have the 2 mods working fine together now

Edited March 22, 2024 by 860513

[Polonium]

Spoiler

After finishing the quests I have some thoughts:

1. I would recommend that you actually remove the lockpicks and the ability to open devices without the designated keys as having this as an option can make the player wonder if they are supposed to be able to escape the devices that way or not and can lead to situations where taking the same action does not necessarily lead to the same outcome, which I think is a problem for a puzzle game.
 

As a replacement I think you should write dialogue for the characters so that they will specifically reference the existence of specific keys for the devices the PC is wearing, giving hints without outright saying where the key is.

2. I think a lot of the mod is written thinking that the player will not pick up every item they come across in the mod. This is pretty minor, but if this is your intent you might want to implement some kind of inventory restriction because I was following my Skyrim instinct and hoovering up everything I could get my hands on into my inventory, just in case it would come in handy later. Maybe empty the players inventory when appropriate?

3. There was an issue with the last step of the quest, where you talk to the dremora about what devices you should wear to get through the main barrier you could "sequence break" if you accidentally put on a "later" device too early: I put on the pet suit early because I never found the elbow restraint and was left pretty confused. Also could you put in an extra catsuit? I lost the first one, probably at the end of the Azura shrine quest and had to add another one in with the console in order to finish the quest.

4. Lastly, minor point, I pickpocketed the alternate invitation (the one that tells you to go to a Eastmarch and drink the wine), found the place and drank the wine. That obviously resulted in a bug, I got a black screen that would not go away. Maybe disable that wine or that effect after finishing the quest?

Overall though, truly excellent mod! I hope you keep writing and coding these, because both aspects have been impeccable.

 

[Polonium]

12 hours ago, masterofgamespl said:

I have a question about mephala riddle. Basically I'm at the point where you need to use the staffes in the correct order to open the door. I did that but the door are still closed (with some magic on it). Also I'm supposed to find some note in this cave (on some table?) but there's no table and no note. 

I should also mention that after clipping through the door I couldn't pick up the gem.

 

Edit: After reseting the game and doing the puzzle in correct order, it worked, but I still can't pick up the gem for some reason.

Another Edit: So I dug up here on the forum, and it turns out I should talk to Mephala here, but she didn't show. There's a gem I can't pick up, a shrine that just gives me a blessing, after tfcing i see some big spider hole above, but it's empty, and Mephala is nowwhere to be seen.

 

12 hours ago, Allen Harris said:

Yeh I never could figure out the order and ended up clipping through 

 

Spoiler

The note is in the sleeping quarters you are taken to, it's the room below the one where you talk to Boethia and is called "draft letter" or some such. It specifies that you have to activate the spell alcoves in a specific pattern, it's written in a bit of code though, so your task is to decode it.

 

Spoiler

IIRC the code is: Arcane Phallus conjuration, Destruction, Illusion, Alteration, Reanimation Conjuration, and restoration, but I could be wrong on that. It should be easy though if you realize that lust = Arcane Phallus, love = destruction, Lies = Illusion, Truth = Alteration, Death = Reanimation, Life = Restoration.

To talk to Mephala, burn the cobwebs away with the destruction staff and walk through the illusory wall to the shrine and interact with the gem.

 

 

[Allen Harris]

2 hours ago, Polonium said:

 

 

  Hide contents

The note is in the sleeping quarters you are taken to, it's the room below the one where you talk to Boethia and is called "draft letter" or some such. It specifies that you have to activate the spell alcoves in a specific pattern, it's written in a bit of code though, so your task is to decode it.

 

  Hide contents

IIRC the code is: Arcane Phallus conjuration, Destruction, Illusion, Alteration, Reanimation Conjuration, and restoration, but I could be wrong on that. It should be easy though if you realize that lust = Arcane Phallus, love = destruction, Lies = Illusion, Truth = Alteration, Death = Reanimation, Life = Restoration.

To talk to Mephala, burn the cobwebs away with the destruction staff and walk through the illusory wall to the shrine and interact with the gem.

 

 

Cc @masterofgamespl

[johan860915]

On 3/21/2024 at 10:40 PM, ftj said:

Well i had the same issue, and i reinstalled the mod and started with a clean save (replayed the first quest), then its ok

 

It seems like the only choice i have right now, thanks for the help

[Frayed]

Update v2.0.2 (2024/03/23) (BETA):
More bugfixes along with some design changes that I could do quickly. Some small changes to voice lines, so the voice pack is also updated. But LL is too stressed at the moment to let me upload it, so I'll have to upload the updated pack later. If this version proves to be stable enough I'll aim to add some proper epilogue content next update.

 

Changelog:

Spoiler

Design changes (The Gordian Bind):

• Added hints to door barriers to hopefully make them less frustrating and trial & error.
• Renamed a bottle as a hint.
• Shuffled the locations of some keys around in the intro.
• Changed staff puzzle a little to hopefully make more sense. Had to swap some staves around for that.
• Prevented an unintended sequence break where player acquires an important gem before doing Boethiah's trials by changing how a hidden shrine is accessed.
• Added some more hints from Boethiah for the trials.
• Made sneaking be considered a hostile action during the intro.

Bugfixes (The Gordian Bind):

• Fixed a bug I introduced in v2.0.1 where I broke the script for the clothes in Trial of the Toy and possibly also the tool in Trial of the Prisoner.
• Added a workaround for a bug in True Directional Movement where it breaks player AI-driven pathfinding. It may still happen, but should be less now.
• Changed Irkalla to redress using Sexlab's API instead of ResetInventory, because apparently ResetInventory just CTDs on LE.
• Changed gargoyle script a little bit to try to not make it cause a CTD on LE or VR. I can only test on SE myself, so if you're on LE/VR, please let me know if it still breaks!
• Fixed terrain seam near one of the stone pillars in the large cave.
• Made it impossible to disenchant the Tonal Fork.
• Changed collar VFX to an enchantment to work around OnUnequip never firing for items unequipped via script.
• Added a fallback to make sure players have shouting off cooldown when they need it just before the finale.
• Set Irkalla to Essential in most places where killing her would break the quest.
• Removed a lean marker that could cause a sequence break if player has mods that allow them to use it. Not really needed, but I wasn't using the marker anyway.
• Fixed a dialogue condition that cause the dremora to miss that you're not wearing some items required for a lategame puzzle.
• Prevented Irkalla from uncharacteristically running away in the Trial of the Toy.
• Fixed bug where Irkalla walks out of bounds to the lower floor in Trial of the Toy instead of walking to the chair.
• Removed a stray screen blur that wasn't removed properly during one of the ways to start the quest.
• Fixed an invisible wall in the living quarters that was accidentally enabled before it should have been.
• Fixed music getting stuck on loop after the finale.
• Reworked freedom shout to be a real time cooldown and ensured it's not on cooldown when it's needed for the quest.

Design changes (A Snare To Loosen):

• Removed the small autowalk portion just before talking to Irkalla to make events in The Gordian Bind feel more impactful.
• Extended the duration of the final fade-in at the start of the quest a little bit.

Bugfixes (A Snare to Loosen):

• Falcon Key / Something Indented might not be working properly in A Snare to Loosen (only on LE?).
• Changed gargoyle script a little bit to try to not make it cause a CTD on LE or VR.
• Fix quest starting again after completion.

[Allen Harris]

48 minutes ago, Frayed said:

Update v2.0.2 (2024/03/23) (BETA):
More bugfixes along with some design changes that I could do quickly. Some small changes to voice lines, so the voice pack is also updated. But LL is too stressed at the moment to let me upload it, so I'll have to upload the updated pack later. If this version proves to be stable enough I'll aim to add some proper epilogue content next update.

 

Changelog:

  Hide contents

Design changes (The Gordian Bind):

• Added hints to door barriers to hopefully make them less frustrating and trial & error.
• Renamed a bottle as a hint.
• Shuffled the locations of some keys around in the intro.
• Changed staff puzzle a little to hopefully make more sense. Had to swap some staves around for that.
• Prevented an unintended sequence break where player acquires an important gem before doing Boethiah's trials by changing how a hidden shrine is accessed.
• Added some more hints from Boethiah for the trials.
• Made sneaking be considered a hostile action during the intro.

Bugfixes (The Gordian Bind):

• Fixed a bug I introduced in v2.0.1 where I broke the script for the clothes in Trial of the Toy and possibly also the tool in Trial of the Prisoner.
• Added a workaround for a bug in True Directional Movement where it breaks player AI-driven pathfinding. It may still happen, but should be less now.
• Changed Irkalla to redress using Sexlab's API instead of ResetInventory, because apparently ResetInventory just CTDs on LE.
• Changed gargoyle script a little bit to try to not make it cause a CTD on LE or VR. I can only test on SE myself, so if you're on LE/VR, please let me know if it still breaks!
• Fixed terrain seam near one of the stone pillars in the large cave.
• Made it impossible to disenchant the Tonal Fork.
• Changed collar VFX to an enchantment to work around OnUnequip never firing for items unequipped via script.
• Added a fallback to make sure players have shouting off cooldown when they need it just before the finale.
• Set Irkalla to Essential in most places where killing her would break the quest.
• Removed a lean marker that could cause a sequence break if player has mods that allow them to use it. Not really needed, but I wasn't using the marker anyway.
• Fixed a dialogue condition that cause the dremora to miss that you're not wearing some items required for a lategame puzzle.
• Prevented Irkalla from uncharacteristically running away in the Trial of the Toy.
• Fixed bug where Irkalla walks out of bounds to the lower floor in Trial of the Toy instead of walking to the chair.
• Removed a stray screen blur that wasn't removed properly during one of the ways to start the quest.
• Fixed an invisible wall in the living quarters that was accidentally enabled before it should have been.
• Fixed music getting stuck on loop after the finale.
• Reworked freedom shout to be a real time cooldown and ensured it's not on cooldown when it's needed for the quest.

Design changes (A Snare To Loosen):

• Removed the small autowalk portion just before talking to Irkalla to make events in The Gordian Bind feel more impactful.
• Extended the duration of the final fade-in at the start of the quest a little bit.

Bugfixes (A Snare to Loosen):

• Falcon Key / Something Indented might not be working properly in A Snare to Loosen (only on LE?).
• Changed gargoyle script a little bit to try to not make it cause a CTD on LE or VR.
• Fix quest starting again after completion.

> VR fix

Awesome,  I'll test it if I have some time tomorrow