» Sat May 28, 2011 12:02 pm
Part II: Guilbert's Revenge
I necro'd this thread, not only as a shameless excuse to show off my Daggerfall character, but also to illustrate a point, kind of. So bear with me as I update you on the tragic tale of Guilbert Greenhouse.
Guilbert ended up keeping his gold in the Bank of Daenia, which means he would do most of his guild work there and was always returning there after traveling far to drop off money. Anyway, every time Guilbert returned to Daenia, and visited the Mages Guild, there always seemed to be another rogue imp in Penpath palace for him to kill. It was as if the palace was extra careless with their imp-summoning because they knew Guilbert was around to clean up their mess. And it was as if they always asked for him specifically, since there was always an imp job waiting for him every time he returned from a long journey. "Oh, and could you send over that Breton with the eyepatch and the hammer again? He always does such a smashing job."
Then, I was in one of the smaller palaces in Daggerfall Kingdom and I asked a noble about "any news." She said, "that imp over in Penpath could have caused some real damage if it weren't for that Breton." So, it seemed, despite 5 liches under his belt, Guilbert was being type cast as an imp exterminator. But he liked it, and he took out a loan, bought a house, and settled down in Penpath.
Then, more tragedy for Guilbert Greenhouse. :nope:
The first thing he did, after a nice nap in his new house, was to report to the Mages Guild for a little work. It just so happened that a famous mage was in town, Uthore Wickton, a name that haunts Guilbert to this day. Uthore was getting ready to go into a spell trance and teleport to Aetherius and it was Guilbert's job to guard him in case of any potential assassination attempts.
So, after taking this quest, a dude appeared. I thought, "cool, a dude" and I clicked on him. Then I got the message, "How dare you disturb me in my spell trance! I am taking this right to the Circle!"
Then, the 2D dude turns into a mage and starts whacking Guilbert on the head. So, naturally, Guilbert swings back with his hammer. Uthore says, "if you kill me, you will be expelled from the guild. Leave the guild now and let me take this up with the Circle."
So, long story short, now Guilbert can't visit the Mages Guild in his own town, because this uptight mage has been throwing a fit in there for months, attacking him any time he enters. He has three choices: live in Penpath and deal with the shame, move out of Penpath and be defeated, or kill Uthore Wickton and risk retaliation from the guild.
Well, Guilbert happens to be all done with his dirty work for the emperor at this point. Lysandus rests in peace and the emperor's letter has been located, so he has some free time and has invested it in a project of revenge against that damned Uthore Wickton! He sold his house in Penpath, paid off his loan, and then moved all of his money into a new account in the bank of Dwynnen. He just joined the Order of the Raven and is on a quest for them right now to find a rare artifact. After he returns, he's going to buy a house to hide out in. Then, he will begin his long journey back to Penpath, to murder Uthore.
If the Guild wants to send their goons after Guilbert, they'll have to follow him into Dwynnen, and have a knightly order to deal with.
Didn't realize that post would be so long, but anyway, I wanted to say that, from the perpsective of someone who was introduced to the series by Morrowind, that I really think this is more of the quintessence of what I ultimately expect from RPGs: a blank slate in which have complete control over the development and actions of my character but no control over the outside forces.
In other words, it's vague enough for me to draw my own conclusions and make my own choices, but specific enough that nothing is a total contrivance and I never have to imagine a different action or response from an NPC.
I am pretty certain that what happened with Uthore Wickton was a bug, however, this little fluke and ones like it are an illustration of that fact. And there are so many unique situations that only Daggerfall is capable of. And if you love to use your imagination, this game offers infinite re-playability.
EDIT: Hopefully this inspires someone to pick up Daggerfall if they haven't played yet.