LE Random Rescue

[dstansberry]

Bearing in mind that what I know about modding could fit into a thimble with plenty of room left over for your thumb, here's what I'd like to see:

 

An essential NPC / Follower, randomly placed into (nearly) any interior cell in any dugeon / cave / hideout / fort / basement / mine / tomb / prison - or even in an exterior cell, such as a camp or clearning or grove. Ideally, she'd be imprisoned in a cage, but it might be simpler to have her just wearing wrist and leg irons. A guard or two would be nice as well, but not required (I'm worried that they might interfere in the normal operation of the environment far more than would an essential, non-hostile girl).

 

The important thing is that her starting location be chosen completely at random - I'd like to have to search for her without knowing that she'll always be found in the basement of Farmhouse X, or in a particular cave near Riften; but only options that make sense should be included among the possibilities. Such a prisoner might be noticed, for example, in the halls of DragonsReach or other public places, so those should be excluded.

 

Ideally, once discovered, the shackles / cage / irons would be removable by picking the lock, at which point the NPC could follow the player (similar to Dar-Ma in Oblivion). Once the NPC has become a follower, random parties of raiders would attempt to retake her, leaving the player to defend her. If she's retaken (i.e., if the player fails to successfully defend her) then she'd be re-hidden in another random location and the quest begins again. The goal would be to deliver the NPC safely to a dock (in Solitude, perhaps, or Dawnstar) where she could board a boat for safe passage home, thus ending the quest.

 

Some "fleshing out" ideas:

1) The NPC should be a little older than the children that run around Skyrim. I'm thinking perhaps of teenage years - probably made by creating an undersized adult. Something like Grimraven1's Pixie Windcaller comes to mind (http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/15576).

2) Perhaps dressed in tattered clothing that were once royal robes? If not, then perhaps just the sort of prison rags you start the game wearing.

3) She should be essential, and being wounded to the point of "bleeding out" would indicate quest failure, and that she has been retaken. Perhaps at that moment, the player could be "rendered unconscious" (i.e., the screen goes dim or blurry for a couple of seconds), and when he or she comes to, the girl is gone and the search begins again).

4) Ideally, if the girl is retaken, she should not be placed inside any location that has already been marked as "cleared" by the player. If this isn't possible, that's okay.

5) She should be able to defend herself - but just barely. A dagger, perhaps, or a weak spell or basic bow. She should fight only when attacked. She's a palace princess, not a warrior queen!

6) Her stats should reflect her role. Perhaps high speechcraft, maybe decent sneaking, and non-combatant magicks like illusion or restoration.

7) Perhaps, if the player has sided with the Stormcloaks or the Imperials, the random parties attempting to retake the girl could be from the opposite faction - as if the "other side" were using the girl to keep her father from joining the battle. If the player has not chosen a side, the parties could be simple bandits. In any event, they should be leveled high enough to make it a challenge.

8) On successful completion of the quest, perhaps an emissary from the girl's homeland would be present to thank the player and provide some sort of reward.

9) Who knows? Maybe she could become a full fledged follower at the end of the quest line?

10) I've really no idea how the quest should begin! Perhaps it's the reason the player was "caught trying to cross the border" in the first place, and is automagically assigned at startup (like so many of the Oblivion quests used to be)? Personally, I'd like it right out of the gate, as it provides motivation for exploring everything there is to explore.

 

Edit: 11) If possible, all this using vanilla assets for the broadest range of compatibility.

 

Whew. I don't even know if something like this is even possible - but I'd certainly enjoy it.

Edited July 12, 2012 by dstansberry