Lore-friendly way to skip the Fade sequence

[ghoulrainbow]

I realise there's already a mod to skip the labyrinth, but how about a mod to add a mental resistance check during the Sloth Demon's speech so you can resist being put to sleep altogether?

 

The sequence of events therefore could go something like this:

 

1. Sloth tries to put you to sleep. At this point the dialogue bar appears. With a mental resistance higher than, say, 40 to 50, you have the option to resist Sloth's spell. (1b) Otherwise (or if you just really want to go to the Fade), the dialogue option is simply something like "Cannot... resist..." and the Fade sequence begins, as in vanilla.
2. If you pass the mental resistance check, you stay awake and fight Sloth as a boss battle in the physical world. Your companions' mental resistance scores are also checked. Those who fail the check are put to sleep for the duration of the battle.
3. Killing Sloth grants you the same amount of experience as killing all enemies in the Fade sequence (fair's fair, since he would be a rather harder boss without a full party and your Fade shapeshifting abilities), and wakes your sleeping companions.
4. At this point, Niall could turn up as a ghost in a cutscene. (Given that it's less than lore-friendly for his actual spirit to come back, well... maybe he's already died and it's just a helpful spirit impersonating him, so that you can save the mages whose dreams it's watched over in Kinloch Hold.) His lines could easily be spliced from his original dialogue in the Fade:
   
   

   Niall/Spirit: You defeated the demon. I never thought... I never expected you to free yourself, to free us both. Take the Litany of Adralla from my... body. [looks at the dead body on the floor to indicate its location to the player] It will protect you from the worst of the blood magic. I cannot go with you-- I have been here far too long. I was never meant to save the Circle, or... survive its troubles. I am dying. It is as simple as that. (The rest of the conversation plays out as in the Fade, with any "when you return" parts edited out. Thankfully Niall makes a lot of dramatic pauses.)

    

   
   
5. Looting Sloth's body confers all of the attribute points you receive in the Fade onto the Warden-- or a unique Tome of Physical Technique which confers +21 attribute points, restricted to the player character.

I'd love to make this myself and I'll definitely have a try, but I know next to nothing about scripting so I thought I'd throw this out there in case anyone else would like to make it first. :smile:

Edited January 6, 2016 by ghoulrainbow

[Thandal]

So you want "Skip the Fade"... just with the possibility of it failing, and add a battle with Sloth if it doesn't?

[ghoulrainbow]

So you want "Skip the Fade"... just with the possibility of it failing, and add a battle with Sloth if it doesn't?

 

Yep. I guess so.