I have to place my "Topics: I replied" marker to follow this up. *bookmarked* :read:

another thing i like this that the grunt skeletons' shields break after a few blocks. definately helpful when there's a horde of them hacking you apart.

oh, i was trying to get the supplies from sellus :facepalm: , and abyssmal, i wouldn't have lasted very long in the tombs if i didn't have good old Julan (,rest his poor soul) to act as a bodyshield ^_^

lol, that's what did me in. the ward of akavir is a really nice shield for medium armor now. :goodjob:

How is the beta progressing? I'm kind of excited =) I'll have to lvl up my character tho o_O

Thanks for the input! I'm tweaking the placement of the mist in the caverns, the next release will hopefully look better.



Actually it's going really well! I'm working on quest progression, making exploring the fort more interesting and challenging, and adding a little more dialogue concerning the expedition to flesh out the story for more immersion.

The followers are now experienced mercenaries, and are a valuable asset to the expedition, without being full-fledged companions. They drink potions responsibly and won't block hallways or kill each other anymore. They'll also re-equip at appropriate times too.

The skeletions pose a signifigant threat, especially in groups where they can surround the player or a follower. They are signifigantly stronger than in the original plug-in, though still manageable with the right tactics and follower support. The expedition is scaled for a character of level 16, and will scale in difficulty for higher-levelled characters to still provide some challenge. The final confrontation in this expedition will play out much differently than in the original plug-in. ^_^

The landmass no longer is plagued with texture seams, floating objects, or jagged terrain oddities, and should look nice with both vanilla and high-resolution textures. I've added more ambience to the interior levels, like sounds and mist. Little things here and there.

I'll release an update this weekend to test out the new content to make sure it works as intended and squash any remaining issues. ^_^

This sounds very cool! I will now actually like this, rather than just like the shape of the archipelago on the map

I'd like it however if you could somehow make the fort restored once you remove the curse and the liche, which is officially the reason given by Gravius in dialogue. It would also make sense.

I'm working on the backstory of Firemoth and the expedition. I've changed a few things about how the expedition is presented, it now focuses more on the acquisition of the Ward of Akavir rather than the defeat of the undead. There will be a few things here and there that give a better idea of the circumstances of Firemoth Fort.

I won't make the fort restoration part of this release, I might make an add-on for it though. I want to leave what happens afterwards up to the player, whether they'll want the fort to remain in desolation, whether the islands are now forever cursed with the undead constantly spawning throughout, whether an Imperial faction, Dunmer faction, or some other interest group would show interest in restoration of the island, or even if they player chooses to become the new head of the army of undead. So I'm leaving the end of the expedition open for others if they choose. ^_^

This just keeps getting better! Will this let you share with the companions, and have the companions follow after the quest? That would be really great!

Thanks for the compliment! I won't enable companion share, as these mercenaries aren't companions, just followers hired for your support. I also am keeping this only dependant on the Morrowind.ESM, companion share being a Tribunal function. However, feel free to add in companion share if you want. ^_^

IF the followers survive the expedition, I do have them to be placed at various taverns where they'll act like regular NPCs and have a couple things to say about Firemoth and the expedition, though it'll be a novelty at best as they aren't likely to survive.

I did some work on this over the weekend, changed a few things that were planned. I won't include the option to return to Seyda Neen for more supplies as I mentioned (although the spoiler mentioned is included and works like a charm), instead I've made the original supplies the player can receive of better quality, and increased the supplies found in the fort. I decided to keep this aspect simple.

I've made the expedition a contracted job of the Imperial Legion & the Census and Excise office (working for 'the Empire'), in that the player is hired as a 'surveyor' and mercenary for this expedition. The player will receive a contract which is required for the supplies and opens up more dialogue about the situation at Firemoth, which'll mention some hints.

I've also made a new mesh for the skeletons at Firemoth, the new mesh is fitting to the ambience.

I'll get the update out soon to test for any issues, and hopefully get the official release out soon after. ^_^

Just finished my first run-through this morning. I'd call it great on all counts - the companions were more than 3-minute fodder, the fort had quite a sallow atmosphere, everything worked, and as should now be usual for me, grurn caused quite a few @%!^ to be heard - . I didn't find any surprises, but with my character being grievously wounded quite often I didn't want to risk it.

Just a couple things of note:
-I'm glad you're going to flesh out the mercenary angle of the quest, for it felt a bit incongruous to me for sellus gravius to say "thank goodness you're here" or whatnot while at the time I'm still a typical nobody off a prisonship. Also, as said before, the mercs and the avoidance of using the legion adds a certain bit of mystery that could be filled.
-For such an artifact I imagine a scenario where it is to be sent back to Cyrodiil after a brief time for display (and boasting), which would handily give the more thieving-inclined players a chance to steal it back and thumb their nose at the Empire on two counts. Maybe an addon..

All in all, good work quorn.

I intentionally made Grurn hard for this beta, to put more focus on acquiring the shield, for testing purposes. Grurn'll be more vulnerable in the next beta, although he'll have a nasty assortment of spells instead of just shockblast. You don't want to be on the receiving end of 'Decrepify' or 'Blood Curse', for example.



Yep, this plays a big role in the dialogue and the development of the expedition, if the player chooses to explore that option. ^_^

I'm also going to add a reputation requirement for the quest, a minor one just so the circumstances would make a little more sense.



I think that's just because



Thanks for the report! I'm planning on having the Ward of Akavir end up in Ebonheart, . Otherwise the quest could be seen as Sellus Gravius just wanted the shield himself, but that would be disappointingly anti-climatic. ^_^

yeh, that would be pretty anti-climatic.... but at the same time hilarious

i think a more vulnerable grurn with deadlier spells would work well, the skeletons pretty much act as a living shield, in fact that might actually make him even harder
looks like some pretty neat tactics and a bit of dodging are gonna be needed for killing grurn in the final release

I always tend to either kill Sellus Gravius for the shield, or disintigrate the shield away, and then mug him. Having him keep the shield seems perfectly normal, since onece the quest is complete none of the other guards you talk to seem to have noticed that the ward has been recovered when you talk about firemoth.

The last time I tried to kill Grun, I actually managed to do it with the help of all my merc allies (not using this plugin - just the standard one). I got in a lucky paralyze hit, and from then on grun spent all his time flinching and so couldn't get off a cast/attack.

Is this still gonna be possible with your mod - or does he have some crazy-high reflect % (>80%)?

What happens if the player swims/levitates/sails (via sailing mod) to Firemoth without the contract? What about with the contract but without using travel provided by this mod?

I've not tried the bethesda Firemoth plugin before, and probably won't have a chance to try out this version before final release. Never the less with the improvements you've made, this is something I'll now want to add to my game. :nod: :thumbsup:

This is slightly off topic, but is there any chance that you could relocate the ship with the mercenaries for firemoth a little further off the dock at in Seyda Neen, so that it no longer has a visual conflict with The tamriel rebuilt travel mod?

Its not neccesary, just something that I thought I could throw out there as a possibility for the next incarnation of this sweet mod.

P.S. Thanks for updating this as well, I really enjoy the changes you have made.

The guards now do mention that the Ward of Akavir has been recovered if the player decides to return it, and there is a little dialogue post-expedition too. The Ward of Akavir will eventually make its way to Ebonheart, though I haven't decided where to put it.

Grurn will have reflect 20%, although not constant effect. He is more vulnerable this time around, although it doesn't make him any less dangerous.



The player can explore Firemoth regardless whether the player decides to accept the quest, the player only misses out on the associated dialogue and the mercenary support.



Since I'm releasing this as a master file, creating a patch that does this would be really simple.

I'm still deciding whether to make this dependant on the expansions. While it would give me more options to play with, and optimize a few things here and there, I want to keep this simple and let everyone be able to play this, as the options available with the expansions aren't truely necessary.

I'm still working on this, most of my time is spent on the backstory and the dialogue, which is progressing slow but steady. ^_^

The mechanics of the expedition work great, and I'll be releasing an update to test them out.

I've switched out the mage follower for another warrior follower. The archer already provides superior ranged support (faster attack, faster projectiles, better evasion), and having another warrior in the party benefits the existing warrior with survivability. This also benefits mage players and archer players too, as two warriors draw out and survive against the skeletons longer.

You could just make two seperate versions. One with expansion stuff, and one without. More options = More fun.

I'd say go ahead with making this dependent on expansions if needed. The expansions could provide the mod with more scripting functions and resources. GoTY edition is less than $20 anymore and can be found in bargain bins as well for even less.

I might end up making this dependant since there's some interesting things I could do with the expansions enabled. I'll play around with what I can do. ^_^

I probably will make the followers have 'companion share' enabled, since that would be the easiest way for the player to resupply them. Would certainly cut down on the scripting used currently.

I decided to make use of the expansions' functions. The mercenaries now have companion share and act like mercenaries in regard to profit. Players can now supply and equip the mercenaries, which becomes very useful as the expedition progresses, especially as equipment shows wear and supplies run low. The mercenaries will report their health status in greeting if wounded, and also have dialogue in regards to their specialty & the expedition, though won't have much to say apart from that, and their contract limits them mostly to the Firemoth region. .

Will the companions utilize repair item such as hammers and tongs to keep their weapons and armor up to snuff?

sieboldii