LE Foul Magic

[Krem]

Another "MOAR EFFIN' SPELLS!" mod, but slightly.. darker. Less repetitive. Also has quests. Reading this will spoil puzzles and story-line etc.

 

It starts with a random encounter; a dead Vigilant of Stendarr. On him is a note: "He's at it again, rambling. But Carcette thinks there's something to it this time, so your job is to check out this "Malignant genius loci , where, imprisoned, lies evil older than the gods, not dead but dreaming.".. whatever that means. Supposedly north-east of the collage, though the senile old bastard refused to say how far off."

 

Quite a bit far off, too far to be seen from land, is the island. A solid block of ice reaching all the way down, spiraling up. At the pinnacle is a hole. Dropping down, the player zones into the Forgotten Abyss.

 

Once zoned, the player drops for quite a while; a distance longer than the sea is deep, falling beyond the size of the island itself. Everything is pitch-black. The player lands in a deep, dark pool of fetid water. To the north is a ledge, easily accessible, followed by a short tunnel (still 100% pitch black). At the end of the tunnel is a large door, with a hollow in the center. Next to it is a skeleton, holding an emblem in one hand, and a book in the other. There's a dagger in the skull.

 

The book reads: "The cursed thing won't open. Too weak to climb up. No food, no way out. I hear Him. In my brain. Can't understand. Can't stand it.

 

[Page Two] He's in my dreams. By the gods, He's in my dreams! In my mind! I must get Him out! I must be free!"

 

The amulet can be 'used', prying from it a gem (Phthalo Sphere) [Phthalo is an actual colour. Look it up.] The gem fits in the door; activating the door removes the gem from the inventory, and places it in the hollow. Nothing happens. Activating the hollow again removes the gem.

 

The only way out is in the pool; swimming further down, an opening can be found, that leads out to sea. Might cause drowning, if one isn't quick enough.

 

Once the gem is in the hollow, casting Soul Trap causes it to glow faintly green, and will slowly open after a few seconds. More faint green seeps from the hallway behind the door.

 

At the end of the hallway is a [uNSURE. Either it'll be a slightly modified skull, some other cliché doodad, or a custom model resembling a Deep One, a Shoggoth, or some other stereotypical Lovecraftian creature. But not Cthulhu].

 

If, at any time, the player prematurely leaves the conversation, the Thing (Called Hörgulsrán) will say "We are not done!", the player will be subject to 100 points of unresistable damage, and conversation will be resumed.

 

Hörgulsrán speaks (Voiceacted by yours truly): So, drekablóð, you have come. I waited, I watched, for.. well, I lost track a few thousand years ago. Or a few million. Time gets a bit funny when you're locked away in darkness. Alone. Without so much as a breeze."

 

Player: -"What?"

 

Hörgulsrán: "..right, I've been forgotten. I take it you've not been sent to 'vanquish' me, since you're completely unprotected. Which means that you want power!"

 

Player:

 

Option 1: "I got lost. You're clearly mad, so I'm going to back away. Slowly."

Option 2: "Yes. Yes I do. That was totally my reason for coming."

 

If the player chooses option 1, the green light grows brighter, and brighter, etc., until the screen is completely green. Then the player dies. Game over. Etc.

 

Hörgulsrán's response to option 2: "Well, I'd love to help. But, aahh, there's a slight problem. See, I'm kinda stuck here. Kinda, almost, sort of, powerless. But despair not, drekablóð, for you can help me so that I can help you."

 

Player: "What must I do?"

 

Hörgulsrán: "Oh, nothing much. Just bring me the souls of a hundred people. I believe you've discovered how to make crystals that can store them, so off you go."

 

Player: "That is.. quite a lot of souls."

 

Hörgulsrán: "It's a fjárfesting, an investment. And murdering a hundred of your fellow búdýr will do you good. Exercise!"

 

The player then gets a quest to bring 100 filled black soul gems back to the creature.

 

The quest is called "Foul Magic: Genocide"; starting a new sub-quest will simply open up a new objective.

 

Upon the player's return, with or without souls:

 

Hörgulsrán: "Back so soon? Or has it been a long time.. No matter. Souls! Do you have them?"

 

Option A: "Yes."

Option B: "Not yet."

Option C: "You are a blight upon the world!"

 

Option B will get you knocked back, zoning, where you will return from the hole at the island's pinnacle, where you're tossed into the air to (hopefully) land in the sea.

Option C will get you killed, leaving nothing but a pile of ash.

 

Option A, Thing's response: "Ah, good, good. Now just put the crystals in here.."

A black chest spawns in front of Hörgulsrán. Interacting with it removes the BSGs from the player's inventory, and the chest despawns. Upon so doing, Hörgulsrán initiates a conversation.

 

"Not bad. I've had better, but not bad. Now, then, since we'll be needing a lot of souls, I'll now bestow upon you the ability to harvest without consuming the souls, or storing them in some silly little crystal."

 

Player: "More souls? Can't you give me everything now?."

 

Hörgulsrán: "Óþakkláta gerpi.. Perhaps I could, perhaps I simply want something in return, perhaps I'm weak, perhaps I'm fooling you. It matters not; I want more souls, and you want power. You harvest souls for me, I give you power. It's not too complicated for you, I trust."

 

Player: "Fine. Whatever. So, how many souls?"

 

Hörgulsrán: "A few. It depends on what you want to know first."

 

Option A: "To kill, plain and simple."

Option B: "To control, to dominate."

Option C: "To torment, to torture."

Option D: "To let madness reign!"

Option E: "To burn things."

Option F: "To bring forth the chill of death."

Option G: "To terrorize. Preferably with something disgusting."

 

Hörgulsrán's responses:

 

A: "Boring, but practical, I guess. 25 souls should do."

B: "A wise choice. 50 souls, and the power is yours."

C: "I like you already. 25 souls."

D: "My own personal favourite. Sheogorath will envy you. 50 souls."

E: "Nothing wrong with pyromania. Or perhaps you're thinking of dinner? 25 souls."

F: "Melodramatic, are we? 25 souls, plus five for the cliché."

G: "I knew you had it in you. 50 souls, and you'll get what you want."

 

Once Hörgulsrán has responded, conversation ends. The player will begin a quest to get the amount of souls previously stated using a new spell they acquire now: "Foul Magic: Harvest". Conjuration spell, twice the cost of Soul Trap, and makes the target have a green outline as well as taking 10% more damage. When the target dies, the Souls Harvested count goes up by one. Only works on humanoids (IE, targets that fill black soul gems). Flavour text of the spell reads as follows: "Giving some twisted entity souls? There's no way that it could be a bad idea."

 

Having enough souls, the quest tells the player to go back to Hörgulsrán. Depending on the quest, Hörgulsrán responds with the appropriate line of text, and the Player learns a new spell. (Option A, followed by Response A, gives Spell A. Complicated, I know.)

 

A: "Tell you the truth, I think you can kill well enough already. But this is at least more fun."

B: "Here's a fun thought; how do you know if you're not already under another's spell?"

C: "I once thought about what I'd do once everyone lived only to serve me. This spell was my answer. Have fun!"

D: "Do be careful with this. The insane are notoriously unstable."

E: "Back when I had a body, I'd sometimes have a feast with the locals. Or, more exactly, I feasted on the locals. This spell is how I cooked them."

F: "Tell you the truth, I don't think the dead can actually feel cold."

G: "Step one, instill fear in the local peasants. Step two.. well, step three, become ruler of Existence."

 

Spell A: "Foul Magic: Kill". Casting: Channeled. Base cost: 35 magicka/second. Damage: 25/second. Type: Damage health. School: Destruction. Level: Expert. Description/flavour: "Uninspiring, unoriginal; boring, but practical."

Spell B: "Foul Magic: Command". Casting: both hands, 2 seconds. Missile. Base cost: 150 magicka. Effect: Makes the targeted humanoid aid act like a follower for 3 minutes, does not use a follower slot. School: Illusion. Level: Master. Each subsequent cast increases the target's resistance to this spell by 10%, to a maximum of 50% (plus any other resistances). No level cap. When the spell runs its course, the target becomes hostile. Only works on humanoids. Description/flavour: "How does one know if one's mind is one's own?"

Spell C: "Foul Magic: Torment". Casting: 1/2 hands, 2 seconds. Missile. Base cost: 125 magicka (300 if dual-cast). Effect: The target kneels over in pain for 20 seconds (50 if dual-cast), and takes 10% more damage (25% if dual-cast). School: Illusion. Level: Master. Description/flavour: "This spell hurts people. People don't like being hurt." Only works on humanoids.

Spell D: "Foul Magic: Madness". Casting: 1/2 hands, 2 seconds. Missile. Base cost: 250 magicka (600 if dual-cast). Effect: The targets is permanently afflicted with madness. At start, and every minute afterwards, the target.. becomes frenzied (30%), runs away(30%), kneels over(30%), or commits suicide(10%). Every time the effect changes, there's a 10% of breaking free. Flavour: "What do they see? Why should you care?"

Spell E: "Foul Magic: Burn". Casting: 1/2 hands, 1 second. Missile. Base cost: 100/250 magicka. Effect: Does 100/250 fire damage over 5 seconds. If a human dies from this effect, drops a human heart and two pieces of human flesh. If a skeever dies, it drops a piece of cooked skeever. And so on. Flavour: "The spells thats makes the peoples smells goods."

Spell F: "Foul Magic: Freeze". Casting: 1/2 hands, 1 second. Missile. Base cost: 150/400 magicka. Effect: Does 100/250 frost damage. Slows the target by 75%. If this kills the target, the target becomes a block of solid ice. Negates the effect of Foul Magic: Burn. Flavour: "Making bad ice-related puns upon casting this spell feels mandatory."

Spell G: "Foul Magic: Terror". Casting: 1/2 hands, 1 second. Missile. Base cost: 100/250 magicka. Effect: The target is feared for 1 minute. During that time, it takes 5 nature damage per second. If dual-cast, the effect has a chance to spread to nearby enemies (or allies) when the target dies, and they can in turn infect more people. Flavour: "This spell causes maggots to feast on the target's skin, spiders to nibble on their face, and their keys to get lost."

 

Being seen casting any Foul Magic spell on a person will put a bounty on the player's head. If the enemy is the sort of person to report to the guards, that is. Why is this? Well, the spells are quite nasty; the descriptions here are mediocre, true, but, for an example, the FM:B spell burns people from the inside out. Can you imagine any law-abiding, upstanding citizen to do that? To cause another person's skin to blister up and crack, to make their eyes boil and pop, to singe their hair.. Imagine how it'd look. Now imagine people's reaction to it. Then again, people should look at you funny for using spells like Frenzy and Fear; I don't think the nords, already suspicious of magic, to feel comfortable fighting alongside a robed lunatic who enjoys making friends kill each other, who laughs as the enemy is terrified (and probably scarred for life, how short that may be) to the point of running away without being in pain. But maybe that's just me. But I digress!

 

Once all these spells have been learned, the player can say

 

"I want more power! More!", to which Hörgulsrán replies

 

-"And power you shall have."

 

The player is then taught the power "Foul Magic: Call of Hörgulsrán". Cast once a day, instant, no mana, same as other powers. Effect: The screen goes black for 10 seconds. During that time, everyone (including the player) is paralysed, and everyone (except the player) takes damage equal to the player's magicka+health, negated by armour, and is knocked down. The flavour is as follows: "Say a few alien words, black out for a moment, remember the smell of brine and the thought of tentacles.. Sounds like Tuesday."

 

The quest "Foul Magic: Genocide" is now finished.

 

The player can talk to Hörgulsrán again.

 

"I want more of your thick, turgid power inside of me. It gives me pleasure."

 

Hörgulsrán replies to this: "I hear that a lot. Or, well, I did. But, yes, more power. Bring me ten scales of dragons, and some of their bones, as well. A troll's skull, yes, aaaaand.. a bunch of meat. Manmeat. Also half a dozen hearts. Two emeralds, as well. And three dozen of your soul-crystals, with souls. Some bear skin, as well. And some ebony ingots. That should do it."

 

New quest: "Foul Magic: Building a Better Tomorrow".

 

Objectives: Bring the following items to Hörgulsrán:

 

10 dragon scales

10 dragon bones

1 troll skull

25 human flesh

6 human hearts

2 flawless emeralds

36 filled black soul gems

1 bear pelt

1 cave bear pelt

1 snow bear pelt

 

Once the player brings all of the items to Hörgulsrán, he will say the following

 

"It puts the ingredients in the chest, or else it gets no power again."

 

The chest spawns again. Activating it takes all the items from the player's inventory, and then the chest despawns.

 

The player is then taught a new spell "Foul Magic: Abomination"

 

Casting: both hands, 2 seconds. Summoning. Base cost: 350 magicka. Effect: Summons 'Foul Abomination'. Custom model, using the parts (Or just a grey-skinned nord in mixed bandit-daedric armour..) brought. Emerald eyes; troll face; grey, scaled skin; wearing black, non-glowing daedric (Or custom-made, "evil-looking") armour with fur joints that covers the chest, arms and legs, but not the feet or hands or head; long, bony claws at the hands and feet; attacks by clawing, no weapons. Does 80 damage per hit, attacks once every 1.5 seconds. Has 450 health, and 100 armour. Runs 25% faster than the player. Is roughly 75% the size of giants.

 

After this, I'm thinking of more spells. Spells that, for an example..

 

Charm a humanoid into being your friend, can use as a follower.

Decapitate.

Kill the target and summon a skeleton (IE, rips the skeleton out to obey you for a short while).

Blind the target (IE, tears out and/or explode the eyes)

Possess (IE, directly control it like you control your own character) the target for a while, though I'm not sure if that's even possible.

Simple damage spells that have morbid descriptions and possibly sexy visuals. Like making blood gush from the player's hand to drown the enemy, or make the target bleed a lot, etc.

 

And more quests. Like, actual quests, with plot. And I'm thinking that the last quest in the chain will kill the player, when Hörgulsrán is released and starts to conquer the planet. Or something like that. Twist ending and all that. But without actually telling the player, without warning him. He'll have to reload his save game and avoid the last quest.

 

But now my mind has overheated (Hey, that could be a spell!), and I doubt anyone would wish to work with me to make this, so all the time spent writing this has probably been wasted.

 

No matter, it was good practice. :3

 

(And, again, if someone fancies making this, I'm more than happy to voice-act. And, no, the names and conversations are not something I'm anal about, but only what I would use if I had the skill+time+ perseverance +dedication etc. to make this mod. Alas, I don't.)

[AnkhAscendant]

Dark. I likes dark. :] I would not like my character to have to say some of the things exactly as you have them phrased ^^; Perhaps some non-tongue-in-cheek options.

 

Twist ending is good. (Although there are some people who would be unreasonably angry at having a quest they couldn't clear out of their journal. Ignore them :P )

 

I also approve of anything that adds plot and grisly things for me to do.

 

I can't really help, but I just wanted to say that the Daedrachosen Dovahkiin approves of this mod request. :thumbsup: