Mod idea - Spoliers -

[Q'alooaith]

Time to throw some cold water on this idea..

The whole which evil do I choose, the evil I know or the evil I don't is one of the best part's of the game, your basicaly going out to defy the law and breakout a criminal (oh yes you are)

The question is, do the end's justfy the means? The great part is you know your dealing with shady types, will you continue to deal with them to save your sibbling or will you leave her to her fate, dance with the devil and your gonna get burned.


If the harpers where added as a choice for getting to spellhold it'd be best to link it via Jaheira rather than a new NPC that jump's in with an offer out of the blue, tag it on at the end of her personal quest, or as part of it, use benard or maybe hendak as a contact then you could tie in extra gameplay elements like an anti slaver quest which links to vampires feeding off slaves and so on..

[ 12-05-2004, 06:12 AM: Message edited by: Q'alooaith ]

[Riftmaker]

Well, lets see...

Shadow Thieves are using you to get to Irenicus.

Bodhi is luring you to Spellhold so Jonny can steal your soul.

So we need a group that GENUINELY tries to help you. A.k.a. harpers. The harpers may get you to do a few things for them, but they do keep their end of the bargain, and would help you.

Harpers would NOT betray you. They might not tell you the whole truth, but they won't betray you.

As an example, lets take stock of Harper members:

Elm
Khelben
Gorion
Jaheira
Khalid

Out of those, only Jaheira is Neutral, the rest are good.

[Link]

Originally posted by Riftmaker: Well that's nice...I'm expecting that it will involve a bribe. Anyway, the Cowled Wizards wouldn't want to *help* the PC. They wouldn't want the PC anywhere NEAR spellhold. Heck, they would try to STOP the PC. But yeah, need harper alternative.

Why wouldn't they want to help the PC? Just like Tolgerias, any Cowled Wizard can be bribed to take you to Spellhold. I don't think the Cowled Wizards sound like a no-go.

[Riftmaker]

Why would the cowled wizards let you go to their super secret prison with all these super dangerous people?

O_o

[Malthaussen]

"Harpers would not betray you."

Bunk. You're generalizing from specifics, and running contrary to things that can actually happen in the game. To say more would spoil the plot.

At any rate, I'm hardly wedded to the idea of the Harpers shafting the player, but something would have to be done to reconcile the existing plot with the suggested mod.

-- Mal

[Link]

Originally posted by Riftmaker: Why would the cowled wizards let you go to their super secret prison with all these super dangerous people? O_o

Well, it's not that super secret if the Shadow Thieves AND the Harpers know about it. Bear in mind that these are big groups in the Forgotte Realms. And the Cowled Wizards could have a very good reason for you to go to Spellhold. Maybe they need you to stop Irenicus. Or maybe you've proven your worth to them. There could be dozens of reasons.

[T-D-C]

How about the Cowled Wizards loose contact with the Island and because you know both the new inmates they send you to investigate

[Cerek]

Originally posted by T-D-C: How about the Cowled Wizards loose contact with the Island and because you know both the new inmates they send you to investigate

I have to admit my first reaction was the same as Riftmakers. The Cowled Wizards are running their own private prison for any mage in Athkala. The only crime you really have to be "guilty" of is refusing to pay the BRIBE needed for the C.W.'s to turn their head to your spellcasting.

The PC knows that Imoen has been wrongly imprisoned BY the Cowled Wizards. Under normal circumstances, I would agree 100% with Riftmaker that they absolutely would NOT want the PC and his/her party anywhere NEAR their private little Spellhold.

However, T-D-C (along with others) DO have a point that the Cowled Wizards would be "concerned" about the events transpiring at Spellhold, and I can certainly picture them sending the PC to investigate rather than placing themselves in harm's way.

As for the Harper tie-in. As the game stands now, the leader of the Harpers is out to capture the PC and/or imprison him/her because of their Slayer abilities. If you have Jaheira in the party, this leads to an inevitable confrontation in which you have to defend yourself against the leader and several members of the Harpers. The PC doesn't suffer any repurcussions for his actions - however - because Jaheira and the rest of the Harpers realize this guy was following an unsanctioned personal agenda.

So the replacement leader could offer passage to Spellhold as a way to compensate the PC for the trouble he/she endured at the hands of the former leader. They could still require a few tasks to be completed by the PC first and could then offer passage for free (or they could say the standard fee is still necessary in order to bribe the proper people to secure passage).

I admit my memory of the whole Harper Interaction is a bit fuzzy and may not be completely accurate. It also may be completely different if Jaheira isn't in the party. I'm just recalling events as best as I remember them.

[Kestrel Daystar]

Heyas everyone

Heres my thoughts:


Harpers: If you do Jaheira's quests then the leader of the Harpers (or what seems to be the leader in Athkatla) tries to 'dispose' of you anyway right? Because of the taint within. So, They could offer you the passage to Spellhold in the hope that you will 'die' for lack of a better term. That could solve one problem no? Or, for the boat ride back, Saemon could be hired on the pretense that you (the PC) will be captured by the Gith which is another way of 'disposing' of you, without the Harpers getting the blame. Either way, your life will be put on the line, causing a threat to the taint.

Cowled Wizards: It turns out that Irenicus takes over Spellhold anyway, and logic dictates that the Cowled ones would want it back no? As is usually the case with the Cowled Wizards, they dont want to do the dirty work (Tolgerias and Valygar) so wouldnt have a problem getting you to solve their problems rather than put themselves in harms way. I mean, why would they care if you lived or died? They would just recruit the next lacky to try get Spellhold back, the only thing is, you are perfect because you have incentive to go their anyway.

I dont know whether these are good or not, its just what my thoughts are.

Thanks alot
--Kestrel--

[SimDing0]

To their knowledge, two people who had been involved in a major disturbance are now wreaking some serious havoc in Spellhold. Presumably the worst thing the Cowled Wizards can do is send along yet another person who was involved in said disturbance.

[ 12-03-2004, 11:12 AM: Message edited by: SimDing0 ]