let's think about quests

[Carter]

The Weird Tome : What is it, how does it work, why does the Ministrel need it?

The Red Rooster Inn - A pub where a bunch of high level adventurers (think Hawkeye but better) hang out, you can buy a drink or two, talk to the locals. Might be the starting point for the Rolf quests, and several other quests. I'm thinking it will be in the wilderness just like some of the other towns, up in the hills.

Drow City: Add monsters like the Dark Elven Priestess, but have levels above like Dark Elven Bishop, Dark Elven Cleric that kind of thing, then you would have increasingly difficult scaled summons. Fighting your way through the city would need to be fast since the summons could overwhelm. The final boss would be some kind of "super spider" whom the Dark Elves worship. Thinking this could be the special mini quest with a boss and 2 artifacts. Bit like the Pyramid but make it level 25->30

Realm of the Karmics - What is the source of the Karmic creatures in the realm? This would delve into the source, possibly with the ability to remove the Karmic classification from the game post solving the quest. Would be for levels 5->10 so you could effect the game long term.

the 3rd Darkforge Quest: Halls of the Angels - Very high level area where you can fight as a Chaotic the level of beings similar to Balors. High Angels / Angels etc. Level 40+, the reward is the spear of raw steel which would be an extremely powerful spear that dooms / essence of chaos and corruption.

[Aielyn]

OK, I thought I'd throw a few new quest ideas, just to give TB some more possible bits of inspiration. I won't go into real detail on any of them, I'll just give the elementary overview.

1. Inspired by The Hobbit, have a new location in the pass between the main part of the overworld and the part that holds the tomb of the high kings. In this location, you would find multiple levels filled with nothing but varieties of orc. The final level will contain a large water area in darkness and a named black hurthling (that can see in darkness). In the middle of the water area is a small island with an artifact ring (that at least grants invisibility and see invisible, and carries essence of chaos) on it.

Perhaps add a new wizard NPC somewhere that unlocks the location.

2. The Astral Tower. Filled with various beings that can teleport, making this a somewhat fun experience as everything around you keeps jumping around. Multiple Big-Room levels (go upstairs to climb tower). Top floor contains a new NPC, the Blink God (see what I did there?). If you have never killed a Blink Dog, the Blink God will be friendly and will offer you a really nice artifact (just like RotMK, killing a blink dog after that will cause problems). If you've killed a blink dog, it'll be hostile, and summon blink dogs.

Think of the artifact as a reward for those who don't try to get teleport control through blink dog corpses, and the summoned blink dogs as a way to get a blink dog corpse if you have killed some already but haven't gotten one (just don't eat it in front of the Blink God).

3. The Forest Glade and the Truly Neutral Quest. The forest glade is a new location that is filled with friendly animals (you know - cats, bears, big dogs, rats, bats, etc) and a new NPC. NPC will give three quests, with the second requiring Neutral alignment and the third requiring a crowned Neutral champion. The first quest is very throw-away, whatever TB wants it to be, it doesn't matter. The reward for the first quest is the Gardening skill and a handful of plant seeds. The second quest sees you use the skill and a seed, and has you plant a tree in some difficult-to-reach location. The reward for the second quest is the Survival skill and a pair of Bracers of Regeneration. The third quest, for N Champions, requires both a chaotic and a lawful act (specific acts). The reward is the third in the Nature trinity (Nature's Companion and Nature's Friend being the other two). I'm thinking something like "Nature's Embrace" (an amulet) or "Nature's Partner" (a weapon). Obviously, only available to Crowned Neutral characters.

[MrNiceguy]

I like the idea of an escort quest. I'll combine a few suggestions already made here:

The Dwarven Village contains an NPC called the Dwarven Widow, an incredibly old woman who wanders around the town. If you ask Thrundarr about her, he'll say something about her being "...one of the last who still remembers our lost glory." At first, chatting with her doesn't result in anything particularly interesting. (If she complains about her arthritis, give her some blessed Moss for a small lawful boost.)

To get the Dwarven Widow's quest, you must complete Thrundarr's second quest by going through the Halls, and purified Griff's grave, but must not have dug up any graves in the Dwarven Graveyard, (including Griff's.) If you meet these qualifications and then chat with the Widow, she'll say, "I've heard of your bravery and of your respect for our old ways. My husband died in the siege on the Great Halls, and I've never been able to visit him since we laid him to rest. I heard you've been through the Halls - would you take me to visit him one last time?"

The Widow is fairly slow and fragile, but can be aided by giving her potions of Boost *stat*. Her husband's grave is somewhere in DH2. Escort her to the grave, where she drops some gold, a loaf of dwarven bread, and a potion of booze. Non-dwarven characters will only see the tombstone as dwarven runes. Dwarven characters will find the stone reads, "Here lies Rolf, our greatest warrior, first to fall in the siege on these halls, with scores of our foes slain beneath his axe."

After escorting the widow safely back to the village, she says to you, "Thank you for allowing me to visit my husband one last time. I'll give this to you, since, for me, it only means a longer wait until we're reunited on the other side." She gives you an AoLS.

On your next visit to the Dwarven Village, the Widow is no longer present. If you ask Thrundarr about her, he says that she has died, and thanks you for your kindness to her.

For most characters, that is the end of the story of the Dwarven Widow. However, if you are playing as a dwarf, her story continues a bit. If you become crowned Lawful at the dwarftown altar, (requiring, of course, that you were Lawful the first time you entered Dwarftown,) the priest tells you that the Dwarven Widow named you as her heir. As such, it is your responsibility so see that she is properly laid to rest before you are allowed to claim the inheritance. He gives you the Dwarven Widow's corpse and a tombstone. You must return to the gravesite, dig a hole next to the existing grave, drop the corpse in the hole, then drop the tombstone, sealing the pit and creating the gravesite. (Not sure if this is actually codeable, adjust as needed.) You must also drop some gold, a loaf of dwarven bread, and a potion of booze. (These items will materialize in the shop when the quest is generated, so if you don't have to waste time hunting for them if you didn't have them when receiving the quest.)

If the Widow's corpse rots away before the quest is completed, her ghost appears and scolds you, and the quest is failed. If the quest is completed successfully, when you return to Dwarftown and chat with the priest, he thanks you for allowing her to properly rejoin her ancestors, and gives you Rolf's Helm as your inheritance.

[Phoobnahr]

really liking these quests.

as regards the dwarven widow, I'd definitely cook her before laying her to rest. That'll keep the old bag from spoiling.

A few quest ideas of my own

1 - A hurthling who desires a perfectly cooked meal - Could be like the ancient dwarf's random monster quest, only with the exception that you must cook and return the corpse upon completion. Shouldn't be necessary to have cooking at 100 to complete, as I'm sure the code makes no distinction between corpses cooked with differing levels of skill. Also I've read that farmers get a higher corpse generation rate after being assigned the crone's quest, so it should be no problem to have the same apply to the monster named in the quest.

2 - A chaotic quest to poison an important person somewhere in the game (any of the named residents of dwarftown would likely be suitable, as well as Rynt, Yergius, etc) - quest can only be completed by dipping a food item in poison and giving it to the target. Additionally, the target could be assigned a favorite food and will only accept that type of food when (g)iven

3 - A treasure hunt quest, where directions to a target location are scattered in several places, the final clue being given in paces from a landmark. We encounter paces elsewhere in the game in the form of the instructions on the scribbled scroll, from which we know that paces are not equal to squares on the map, introducing a level of uncertainty.

4 - birthday cake (this is the third time I've retyped this after crashes/inexplicable-not-posting, so I'm abridging)
Bring the master baker a list of items to make a birthday cake (seeds, candy, beeswax, etc), he gives you the cake, you have to bake it yourself (cooking skill, firebolt, drop it in the ToEF, etc). (U)se the baked cake to light the candles. (U)se it again to blow them out. Blow them out on your birthday to get a wish.

[nipon621]

What about a quest to get a hut? Like for guaranteed safe storage of stuff. There's plenty of places to store things, but I'm getting a craving for my own hut in the woods

[BlitzerkidSix]

I rather like the idea of my own hut. I've taken to stashing items in the Ogre Cave (my "office") but a hut would be even better. Perhaps the Mad Minstrel could assign several quests, like Thrundarr or Gaab'baay, and then give you his songbook and leave the Drakalor Chain, effectively providing you a small hut to store items safely. I picture the Mad Minstrel assigning somewhat random quests, so difficulty varies from game to game. In one game, he could ask you to kill a goblin and then bring him a large ration, in another he might say kill a vapor rat and bring an herb seed. The final quest could be for the weird tome. All quests would be assigned in song, of course

[Phoobnahr]

minstrel quests could be assigned by (g)iving him an instrument.

if I'm getting a hut I'd like to see my own built custom, instead of taking over someone else's... if I want that I'll just kill the old barbarian.

Yriggs ought to be able to build me a damn hut, it'd at least be SOME reason to take the village elder's quest.

[nipon621]

minstrel quests could be assigned by (g)iving him an instrument.

if I'm getting a hut I'd like to see my own built custom, instead of taking over someone else's... if I want that I'll just kill the old barbarian.

Yriggs ought to be able to build me a damn hut, it'd at least be SOME reason to take the village elder's quest.

Whoot! I did not expect to see support for the idea! I'm in favor of the ability to commission Yriggs to build a custom hut somewhere. Ideally it could be placed at any unused square in the wilderness (OR have a built in shortcut to the CoC... maybe even a choice of shortcuts to places you have visited - probably 2 at the most, otherwise it would likely mess with the logistical balance of the game, if it happens to be a consideration. I have no idea if wilderness travel time was intentionally balanced with the 90 day corruption doubling)

Please be aware, that I would be absolutely delighted to just have a vanilla hut built to my own specs at PC chosen location in the wilderness. There could still be some things that would be fantastic to have as options(I'm dreaming from this point on).

It could add to the (normal) ending as well - you go off, do your thing, and end up retiring/vacationing at your peaceful custom made abode in the place where you saved the world.

It'd be nice to be able to add a pond (for training swimming) or some apple tree's you can kick (for apples) as well. maybe a guard dog, or some kind of barn/ranch area where you could kill animals for food (but what kind of animal... a giant rat ranch doesn't seem too logical). Maybe a stove you could use to cook stuff, a smithy, etc...

If the features above were implemented, they could be balanced by adding some sort of payment (gold, logs, rocks, a mix of the above, etc), a maximum number of features that could be added, and the options limited by the wilderness square chosen (if it's right next to Terynio, you probably shouldn't be able to add a CoC shortcut... makes no sense. If it's not on the plains, no ranch. If its not in the woods, no option to add apple tree's. The smithy could be a hills exclusive, etc).

Thoughts?