quest The Trappings of Fate

[SilentAntagonist121]

I eventually had to replay the mod from the beginning to get past the table softlock in the Trail of the Toy, but I finally finished it.

 

Mostly, the mod is incredible. The integration of the devices and puzzles are really fun, and the story is excellent, until the very end. I'm not sure if it was a bug, or just left open for more expansion in the future, but the quest just... ends. I saved Irkalla, I spared her life, and... that was it. Irkalla remains kneeling in the cave, the quest is over and I can presumably just walk out. I would like to see a slightly more complete ending for Irkalla, especially if you've been pretty willing throughout. Perhaps you can arrange for a safer game again in the future, fully consensually this time?

 

I also ran into a few bugs, most of which I've seen others raise, too. The boots and clothes not being registered on the table in the Trial of the Toy, the final ward not dropping, even in the full gear the Dremora suggests, and the most annoying one was Boethiah not spawning in the basement making me work through my own restraints one by one (though I assume that one is a knock on of the ward not falling). I was also almost completely unarmed for the final fight, with nothing except a woodcutter's axe, which did not do much, so the fight was incredibly frustrating, and was only really feasible with console commands. Additionally, despite willingly submitting to a second game, I never received Irkalla's invitation, instead finding it on her person when pickpocketing, and only being given the bounty that's supposed to trick you, even after waiting over a week in game for another delivery.

 

Nearer the end, the puzzles started getting unreasonably difficult and obtuse. Mephala's shrine in particular was a bit insane. Unlike the diary entries and riddles, the letter draft was in Irkalla's bedroom, on her desk, clearly in use, so I assumed taking it might be noticed, so I left it there after reading, and was then stuck in the magic puzzle. I also hadn't collected every staff that was lying around because I had already been told not to cast spells, so I assumed staves were off the table, too. I fully admit I liberally relied on the guide and console commands for the Trials onwards as the remaining puzzles didn't really give enough hints to reasonably solve them. Also, I never found the key for the hobble dress. I don't know if there is one, but as the dress is needed to navigate the house, I assume there's supposed to be a way to remove it.

 

On the story front, I'm a little upset the book didn't seem to go anywhere. You break the seal, green mist and tentacles start to leak out, and... nothing ever comes of that? Similarly the earthquake at the start of the second quest, the one that gets Irkalla out of the room for your escape in the first place, doesn't seem to ever be explained. She acts like these are a common occurance, but I don't recall running into anything that would explain those.

 

I know these are starting to sound rather negative, but these are minor for the most part. The majority of the mod is incredibly well written with very good and fair feeling puzzles, and an incredibly fleshed out antagonist, far moreso than I've seen in any other mods, and more than I see most full games.

 

I would love to see some of the bugs ironed out, but even without, this is still easily one of the best mods on this site, thanks so much for sharing it.

[chloe5050]

Hi

 

idd like to start by saying i Loved the trappings of fate, took a while to figure it out but got there with minimal issue,

only issue to report was the pilroy would not unlock after dermora had there way, was just a constant struggle screen, got around this by promising my service later

 

now on the gordian bind the x-cross did the same, dont know why but as soon as i opend the command screen it prompted the message to escape, so was able to escape,

 

currently stuck on the rope bindings, ive looked at guide and it says to drop the glass bottle from behind the bars, but i see no bottle of any kind, only alchemy ingredients and recipie`s

the slave wont help either

 

can anybody help me on this part please

[Viri1]

4 hours ago, chloe5050 said:

Hi

 

idd like to start by saying i Loved the trappings of fate, took a while to figure it out but got there with minimal issue,

only issue to report was the pilroy would not unlock after dermora had there way, was just a constant struggle screen, got around this by promising my service later

 

now on the gordian bind the x-cross did the same, dont know why but as soon as i opend the command screen it prompted the message to escape, so was able to escape,

 

currently stuck on the rope bindings, ive looked at guide and it says to drop the glass bottle from behind the bars, but i see no bottle of any kind, only alchemy ingredients and recipie`s

the slave wont help either

 

can anybody help me on this part please

 

1) You are indeed meant to just struggle out of the pillory, like escaping any Devious Contraption.

2) Same as before, you don't just struggle out, to get out of Contraptions, you need to open that command window.

3) Check that bit with the alchemy ingredients behind the bars carefully, it's there. Maybe your game did some collision bug and the bottle got knocked somewhere, try to redo that section if that is the case.

[chloe5050]

2 hours ago, Viri1 said:

 

1) You are indeed meant to just struggle out of the pillory, like escaping any Devious Contraption.

2) Same as before, you don't just struggle out, to get out of Contraptions, you need to open that command window.

3) Check that bit with the alchemy ingredients behind the bars carefully, it's there. Maybe your game did some collision bug and the bottle got knocked somewhere, try to redo that section if that is the case.

thankyou

 

got it working again, for some reason competely closing skyrim and re-loading to before the 2nd part, sorted everything out,

no idea why, but its a win and ill take it

[FromMindoir]

Alright, I've managed to complete a first run. I will try to give all my thoughts, glitches and suggestions in here. But first and most importantly, I must say to Frayed that it was an absolutely impressive amount of work, I tip my hat to you, fantastic job!

 

So, the glitches. I have to say that I played v2.02, because I haven't updated my mods in a little while and started the game quite some time ago, this might not be the latest release (I did not check). Sorry if I'm bringing some old stuff back.

Spoiler

- I could only start straight after Part 1. When I picked the "later" option, nothing ever happened. However, it's likely a Courier glitch in my game, as I'm not triggering the second part of Potema's quest either since no Courier shows up. So, probably not an issue with this mod.

- I once again had Cursed Loot events happen during the quest (it already happened to me during part 1), which was really annoying (I didn't think to disable it before heading into this one). Namely, random NPC becoming rapists (and sometimes adding restraints, which was annoying), finding keys, and getting trapped loots when recovering my gear (again)

- I couldn't grab one of the clues in the lab, the sheet of paper was too far under a table and I couldn't target it.

- During the second part of the mod, after escaping a sleepy Irkalla, I somehow managed to reach the exit (in the bandit cave). The collar did not stop me (or only did so temporarily - I thought it was a feature because the potion was better).

- After failing Boethiah's second trial, I got stuck, not being able to restart by going through the arch, or talking to Boethiah.

- Apparently you can talk to Azura after Boethiah's trials? I never found her despite spending quite some time in her shrine.

- The door to Mephala's shrine was never revealed. I had to use tcl to get through the wall despite seeing the bugs.

- The final barrier kept repelling me, as others have mentioned.

- I didn't manage to free myself with Boethiah's shout in the final area after the gag was removed.

- Got stuck once during a forced collar walk because I couldn't get up stairs.

 

The...not glitches, but issues I found (some might be features, I don't know).

Spoiler

- The Unrelenting Pull shout is a good idea on paper, but more often than not it ended up putting the items I was looking for even further away. Combined with the cooldown, and the difficulty to spot them, it was quite aggravating at times (and happened both with the Embalming Tool during the trial, and with Boethiah's Sword).

- The Second Trial was amazing, but I failed it once because of, I think a time limit?...But then I tried again having figured out what to do, and failed again because there were several random events that made me waste time (namely, failing several times to struggle out of the gag, and the aforementioned difficulty to use the Shout). Also, as a sidenote, at first I did not want to use the Tool stuck in the wall because the command said "Take", and I was afraid that doing that would remove it from the wall while I was at the Yoke stage.

- The waters in the pond leading to Boethiah's shrine were way too dark. Yellowish-dark actually, but I couldn't see a thing. The lighting was also super dark in Azura's shrine. I don't know if it's due to a mod I use or not, but I don't have this issue in most caves

- I lost an ungodly amount of time struggling out of the items I had picked up due to not spotting Gargoyles at first. I wish there was a clue as to where the various keys are. Maybe some more notes somewhere? Considering some restraints need to be used to get through some barriers, it was a bit frustrating when I had missed a Gargoyle.

 

My thoughts on the whole quest

Spoiler

It was extremely fun! I was afraid at first that it wouldn't be very bondagey, as you can quickly get rid of the first items, but thankfully I was mistaken. Some of the sequences were absolutely amazing - I loved Boethiah's second trial, and the way to get through the final barrier (despite the glitch), and it was remarkably integrated into the lore of the games.

I felt like the area was maybe too big, but it's due in no small part to my issues with the Gargoyles making me waste time. Still, I feel like Walker's hut was a bit too far away from everything else, it could have been a bit closer to the main area.

The entire mod felt maybe a bit too long considering it forces to be in one location, and considering how convoluted some of the puzzles are. At least there should be a warning (in Irkalla's dialogue after the first part, or in the mod's description) that once you start part 2 you might not see the rest of Skyrim for quite some time and be ready for it. I played the first part...almost at random, I forgot I had it installed, and picked it up one day while clearing my journal (I didn't even remember what this "Spiced Wine" was about), and while I had a blast, I didn't feel like it took too long to get out and back to the rest of the game. Here, honestly, it would have been too much, I might have given up midway through. Not that it was not enjoyable, but I feel like some kind of warning (or an estimation of the game time required to clear it) would be welcome. Maybe in a book you receive at the end of part 1? Some cryptic message that says "you managed to escape, but beware, it will be much longer and tougher if you want to see more, be sure to be prepared".

But once again, fantastic job, what an amazing work. It is by far the best mod I've played on this site, and I don't think I've seen many vanilla skyrim mods that were that deep and well-developed.

 

 

And, suggestions, while I'm at it!

Spoiler

It's a personal kink of mine, but considering how many times you can "fail" in this mod, I really wish there were some "bad ends" implemented - maybe triggerable ones? Something like a dialogue with whichever NPC is involved, where one choice is "What happens next" (cut to the scene) and the other is "I have lost - reload the last save" (for those who do not want to see it).

 

The thoughts that came to mind...

 

- After being warned that Irkalla may be somewhere the first time you escape the starting room, she ends up indeed being in this place. So if you enter the living area, she's there, orders you back, and locks you way too much for you to ever manage to escape. It could be seen as an ending where fate, indeed, does not exist as the dragonborn remains stuck in the initial cell failing to get out of the X-Cross (or of some other extreme furniture that replaced the cross).

 

- The various trials of Boethiah. In the first one, you could end up stuck in the dream as Irkalla's submissive slave if you fail to rebel. In the second, you might end up eternally locked in the call, with the crystal switching between one impossibly tight set of restraints after another.

 

- Finally, while there are several endings depending on the decision with the soul gem, one I would have loved to see was the Dremora captive betraying us in some fashion to gain favor towards Molag Bal. I thought it could be a two-part decision:

* first, he could ask to be freed from his restraints before giving the advice (to which it would be possible to say yes/no - and if we say no, the default sequence happens)

* second, he could ask some details on how we intend to defeat Molag Bal. It would be possible to spill the beans on the fake gem, or not.

* and finally, if he is free and if we explained the plan, he might show up as we cross the final barrier and accompany us in Molag's den, preventing Boethiah to show up, and leading us on a leash towards Molag before explaining the whole plan to curry his favors. Which would lead to Molag realizing the treachery, and permanently locking the binds (and possibly doing the same to Irkalla, who tried to deceive him) and keeping the two of them tied at his feet for his personal use (or that of his minions/the Dremora if he so choses).

** alternatively, if he was freed and knows the plan, he might even show up just after Boethiah ungags us to gag us back before we can shout. Boethiah might even be positively impressed with the treachery and abandon us as a reward to him.

 

It's almost delving into fanfic territory at this point I guess ^^ But that final bondage session was pretty much a bullseye into my personal kinks, and I wish there was some way for the moment where we crawl into the evil god's lair while completely helplessly bound to backfire horribly, because...well...

 

And that mod is so much fun, it makes me think anything is possible!

 

Anyways, thanks again for this incredible mod! I don't know what (or if) you plan to work on now, but I will definitely keep an eye on it!

Edited May 6, 2024 by FromMindoir

[FromMindoir]

Double post because the forum does not seem to want me to edit my previous message, regarding the Courier glitch to start part 2 :

Spoiler

I could only start The Gordian Knot straight after Part 1. When I picked the "later" option, nothing ever happened. However, my game did not have any Couriers showing up no matter what quest we are talking about.

 

As it turns out, I think it was (as per usual) related to the Potema quests in Solitude: I had done part 1 (the Man who Cried Wolf), and never got the Courier letter for part 2. After completing the Gordian Knot however, I ended up talking to Elisif (hadn't done that before) and got the quest to put Torygg's horn on the Talos altar near Whiterun. I did that, and the next time I fast-travelled (to Winterhold), I suddenly got a Courier with three letters - one from Falk Firebeard to start The Wolf Queen Awakened, one Letter of Inheritance (because I did Namira's quest - for Verulus' death) and one "I know you killed him" random letter. So I think not talking to Elisif was blocking the appearance of all Couriers.

 

SO

 

I think that to avoid any conflicts with this mod, since some actions are Courier-related, it might be wise to advise to either do the entire Solitude questline up until The Wolf Queen Awakened is complete, or to not start them at all (by not going to Wolfskull Cave). It really seems to be the #1 quest that messes with how Couriers are functioning overall.

 

I guess it will give me a reason to try a later version again to see how the Gordian Knot is triggered, as I couldn't see it this time around.

 

[Allen Harris]

Hey @Frayed - is there any news on this mod?

[supergodman55]

looks like i am hitting a common issue that the search function doesn;t seem to have an answer to-- trial of the toy-- the table only registers the gloves, not the outfit or boots, what is the setstage code to advance this?

[firebate]

I completed the cleansing of Azura's shrine, the cut scene completes then the screen goes completely white and apparently freezes.   I have also found  Boethiah's shrine and when I step through the gate for the "trial of the prisoner"  I am placed in the black void between cells,  I can barely make out a hallway which I presume is the actual play area at co-ordinates that are a mirror of the location I appear in.  Any thoughts on how to fix either of these issues?

 

[Idynian]

One thing I've been having an issue with, the paralyze effect from the magic seals, specifically in Irkalla's Arcanaeum. Will just lock my character in a permanent ragdoll state, which might be a side effect from other mods, but the fact that it doesn't happen with the seals in the big mushroom/other places is weird.

[Idynian]

Reached Mephala's Shrine

 

Spoiler

with Irkalla's Black Soul Gem, however I can't pick it up or activate it. So I'm kind of softlocked, however, using player.placeatme I managed to get the gem dialogue, might have some unintended consequences tho.

 

[phando]

Just finished playing through the Gordian Bind, and I think it's really good so far. Here are a couple of notes I gathered from the playthrough, which hopefully will read more as helpful and less like I'm an idiot lol.

 

Spoiler

-In the intro room, I had to save and reload a few times because the furniture would duplicate. It didn't happen every time, but it was fairly frequent. I don't think this was caused by anything in my modlist, but I won't completely rule it out.

-A few of the keys proved to be very difficult to find (assuming there are keys for them), like the ones for the hobble dress, polished chastity belt and straitjacket. I spent a very long time looking for them to no avail. 

-After the third trial I wasn't released from the restraints. Not sure if that was intentional or not, but it caused a conflict with the collar so I had to manually add it after removing the chains.

-This one might entirely be my own stupidity, but I could not find the staves of magelight and reanimation. I was able to get two of every other staff but I could not find those ones anywhere.

-The cobweb bit didn't work. I was able to burn some of them, but regardless of angle I could not get a few of them to finish burning. If I manually went into the console and disabled them, the spider noises got a little bit louder, but the wall to the shrine never disappeared on its own.

-I couldn't get past that final barrier. Our daedric friend had confirmed I had everything on and even popped on the clit piercing to make extra super sure, but it still wouldn't let me through. Seems like I'm not the only one with this issue so whether it's a condition thing or just a bit unclear on what needs to be worn idk.

 

And now for a few personal notes that don't really have to do with mechanics or bugs, and more just what I might like to see in future builds assuming they're not too demanding.

 

-The Gordian Bind being the second quest felt a bit sudden, and I think it would be really nice as a build up if there were another couple of puzzle rooms more like the first quest in between where you can get some hints at where Irkalla's game is headed. As is it is works, but going from fun escape room to full on slave was a bit jarring personally.

-I wish Irkalla was around a little more. The scenes with her where she's playing with us is a lot of fun and helps add to the whole feeling of being controlled by the collar, but because there are so few of them it doesn't really feel like the stakes are very high.

-The ending was a bit abrupt. Not specifically the Molag Bal/Irkalla fight, but a little bit more afterwards would be really appreciated. I would've really liked to be able to see Irkalla's thoughts afterwards, and maybe even be able to see her from time to time for non-quest restraining. 

 

Can't wait to try it again once it's out of beta

Edited May 15, 2024 by phando
fix

[jr229818]

Finished the Gordian bind yesterday, got to say I was really impressed with the scale. Very impressive mod

 

Is it possible to get this outside of the mod:

Spoiler

- Is it possible to acquire the spell that is used with the runic bind things in the final combat scene? No idea where that is from, but it would be fun in combat

 

 

[Pancakes2]

I really wanted to play the new content but I can't get out of the harness in the first part. I've gotten the message and the plug event but arousal doesn't go down to 0 which I assume is why I can't remove it. I have everything off but the harness, belt, plug, and piercings. Anyway I can use console to progress this?

[Pancakes2]

Alright I used console to get out of the harness, completed the rest of part 1 and escaped, however there's no sign of the dremora anywhere ( I agree to 4 days) and part two isn't starting either. Any way I can get things to progress?

[petterparker]

On 18/5/2024 at 8:58, jr229818 said:

Ayer terminé el enlace gordiano y debo decir que quedé realmente impresionado con la escala. Mod muy impresionante

 

¿Es posible conseguir esto fuera del mod?

  Ocultar contenidos

- ¿Es posible adquirir el hechizo que se usa con las cosas rúnicas en la escena del combate final? No tengo idea de dónde es, pero sería divertido en combate.

 

 

Yes, I really agree with that.

Spoiler

My favorite part of the mod, although in my case it was not possible to remove the runes (not even out of combat) I guess it is a mistake.
Despite that, he remained an excellent mechanic.

 

[Allen Harris]

On 5/19/2024 at 8:32 AM, petterparker said:

Yes, I really agree with that.

  Hide contents

My favorite part of the mod, although in my case it was not possible to remove the runes (not even out of combat) I guess it is a mistake.
Despite that, he remained an excellent mechanic.

 

Lol my favorite part was the arcane Phallus spell 😛

[TheSilverWitch]

I'm having a problem while trying to to cleanse the Shrine of Azura during the Gordian Bind. I made it all the way to the 'Warped Shrine of Azura' without issue, but I cannot interact with it. The little prompt that says 'Use Warped Shrine of Azura' is shown like normal, but nothing happens when I press E. I've tried loading a save and running FNIS a few times, but it hasn't worked. I would appreciate any help or advice! Thank you.

[Brainstrain]

I actually have the exact same issue. Currently using the 2.02 BETA version. Not certain what's causing it or how to advance to the next stage: I used the walkthrough to see if I've missed anything, it seems I have not. The prompt appears, but interacting with the shrine does nothing. So far the rest of the mod has been working perfectly ass well: no issues whatsoever.

 

[david5]

i am in the part of the quest where i have to find walkers hut and have searched EVERYWHERE for it and CANNOT FIND IT. I have found the main boss hut but hers is nowhere in sight. I have looked at the walkthrough that says it is nearby but have searched  everything and nothing. I really need some help in locating where the damn hut is at as it is driving me nuts to locate it.

 

[TheSilverWitch]

4 hours ago, david5 said:

i am in the part of the quest where i have to find walkers hut and have searched EVERYWHERE for it and CANNOT FIND IT. I have found the main boss hut but hers is nowhere in sight. I have looked at the walkthrough that says it is nearby but have searched  everything and nothing. I really need some help in locating where the damn hut is at as it is driving me nuts to locate it.

 

While I wait for help with my issue, I can at least help you with yours  I you have followed the quest marker you will have slammed your head into a tall stone pillar. The hut is on top of that. You can access it via some walkways that look like roots. You can see them if you look up. There are two ways to get up to those walkways, as far as I remember.
Either follow the river upstream until you reach a set of wooden stairs that lead to some natural hot springs. Just follow the natural platform, and it should take you all the way to the backside of the Living Quarters. There, you will find a wooden ladder, that works like a door. It takes you up to the walkways. From there, it's straight forward. just walk over the roots to the little hut. 
Alternatively, you might be able to reach the wooden ladder that takes you up, by passing through the Living Quarters. Not sure if you can do so at that point in the story, but if you're struggling it might be worth looking into. 
The first path works for sure though! Have fun, and if you run into the same issue as me and Brainstrain, do let me know. Hopefully we can find a solution to that one...

[lamar17]

On 5/20/2024 at 10:20 PM, TheSilverWitch said:

I'm having a problem while trying to to cleanse the Shrine of Azura during the Gordian Bind. I made it all the way to the 'Warped Shrine of Azura' without issue, but I cannot interact with it. The little prompt that says 'Use Warped Shrine of Azura' is shown like normal, but nothing happens when I press E. I've tried loading a save and running FNIS a few times, but it hasn't worked. I would appreciate any help or advice! Thank you.

I had a similar problem. Somehow not all scripts ran.
I bet more things don't work. In my case, the problems were with “elevators”, gargoyles and the shrine. I was able to leave the study at the very start without any obstacles.
I'm afraid the only (and simplest) solution is to load the save before starting Gordian Bind.
If the gargoyles work and the game does not allow free exploration without finishing an alchemical quest there is a good chance that everything will continue to work properly.

 

[Allen Harris]

17 hours ago, david5 said:

i am in the part of the quest where i have to find walkers hut and have searched EVERYWHERE for it and CANNOT FIND IT. I have found the main boss hut but hers is nowhere in sight. I have looked at the walkthrough that says it is nearby but have searched  everything and nothing. I really need some help in locating where the damn hut is at as it is driving me nuts to locate it.

 

Spoiler

There's a walkway made of tree branches and stuff at the top of the big mushroom. You follow that path and find a small house. That's where Walker is supposed to be until the part of the story where Irkalla takes you back to her bedroom. After that, Walker is on one of the first two floors of the mushroom

 

[Bobolinkfaith]

stuck on the second quest, i'm placed on the x-cross and Irkalla is just standing there next to me doing nothing

[Allen Harris]

2 hours ago, Bobolinkfaith said:

stuck on the second quest, i'm placed on the x-cross and Irkalla is just standing there next to me doing nothing

That probably means it's hung. She doesn't wait for long. I advise reloading a save from before you start the second act.

You might try opening and closing the console withe the tilde key. On rare occasion, that unhangs hung quest steps.

Edited May 27, 2024 by Allen Harris