Fan Mission Idea: From the Depths

[Kurshok]

Hello, since my gaming computer crapped out, I am unable to play the Dark Mod, and since I was never a computer engineering genius, I don't know if I could design a map even if it were to be fixed. Therefore, I shall instead contribute my ideas to the forum for those who are more talented and able to actually make use of them to make reality. Consider this me being a "ghost-writer".

 

The first mission idea I have is a standard Lovecraftian sea monster story simply titled "From The Depths". In it, the Thief (you can make him your own character if you already have one, such as Corbin or Thomas Porter) hears from some warty,flabby fat sailor drunk off his ass in a seaside tavern in Bridgeport about how some sort of freak storm literally wrenched a galleon from the depths and flung the stinking wreck out of the sea and into the Flooded District. Soon after, reports of strange beastmen are reported in the flooded ruins in southern Bridgeport, and of how they seem to be guarding some sort of magical artifact.

 

The artifact in question is the skull of an infamous necromancer, chopped apart and flung it the ocean for his hideous experiments on fetuses. Imagine using stem cell regeneration and mixing it with necromancy to create some sort of genderless, pasty white, technically undead, lamprey-mouthed, leechman that reproduces by ripping in half. Something kind of similar in appearance to the Freaks of the disliked on this forum Thief 2014, but with no eyes and a gaping jawless circular mouth.

 

The skull of the Necromancer seems to have fused with some coral, with the upper right half of it having mutated into what looks like a human heart covered by an exoskeleton of blood-red coral, and small pearl-like eggs that spawn albino leech-looking Leechman larva are "birthed" out of the remaining eye socket like a demented birth canal. The creatures are weak to fire and holy water, so the Builders have managed to hold them back.

 

Bodies of undesirables and criminals can be found shriveled and pale, drained of blood and raised as zombies. Your client, a mysterious member of the nobility, hires you to get in and steal the skull from its blood-nest in the half-biomass-covered wreck of the galleon in the flooded district. Additionally, a ritual can be done to turn the entire flooded district's water into holy water by lighting candles at Builder shrines around the area, causing all Leechmen and the weird meat on the ship to disappear in a screaming burst of flame, revealing a door that had been covered in undead biomass that leads to the galleon's treasure chest.

 

Anyone have any critiques?

Edited November 17, 2017 by Kurshok

[Kurshok]

I edited the original post for a better description.

Edited November 17, 2017 by Kurshok

[CarltonTroisi]

I appreciate the effort, but better formatting would help a lot. Please break the one very long (wall of text) paragraph down into smaller paragraphs. Perhaps then some folks would comment or offer suggestions, etc.

[Kurshok]

I appreciate the effort, but better formatting would help a lot. Please break the one very long (wall of text) paragraph down into smaller paragraphs. Perhaps then some folks would comment or offer suggestions, etc.

Done.

[CarltonTroisi]

I'm afraid I haven't much to offer other than to say... it sounds hella cool.

 

But the problem is I don't think TDM is currently capable of implementing your vision.

 

You may have to offer some practical solutions for representing these creatures; even the setting sounds difficult.

[VanishedOne]

I think it comes up against the usual problem with ideas involving new AI: the skills needed to model and rig (and animate, if they don't re-use existing animations) are in short supply. I like the coral idea though: my inclination would be to take the skeleton AI and reskin it with a new coral material. You'd have a very strong visual indication of how long it had existed underwater.

 

For underwater themes more generally, ERH+'s forthcoming FM Seed of Lodestar (in beta testing) should be interesting.